Rehab
by Hidden By Shadow
Summary: Takes place after the main game.  Rated T due to planned content.
1. Chapter 1

Rehab

Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy 8, it is owned by SquareEnix.

Squall sat in the canteen of Balamb Garden eating a sandwich and staring around the room. As usual, it was nearly eight o'clock and a bunch of students who should have bene heading to their lessons were sitting around playing cards.

"Geez, spot the hard worker." Squall thought to himself, "There's Zell cramming hot dogs into his mouth, Selphie stealing Irvine's hat and Ultimecia lying on a table. Wait, what?" Squall shut his eyes and then opened them. His vision had not failed him, Sorceress Ultimecia was actually in the canteen and currently lying face down on a table, her arms and legs hanging over the sides of it. And amazingly, none of the other people in the canteen had noticed. Squall walked over to Irvine, who was trying to snatch his hat back off Selphie.

"Err, Irvine, can you see Ultimecia lying on a table?" Squall asked, pointing at the sorceress. Irvine turned to look.

"Why yes, she is lying on a table." Irvine remarked, then went right back to trying to grab his hat. Although Selphie was smaller than he was, she was also faster.

"Are you going to do anything about it?" Squall asked, amazed the gunman hadn't just shot her. Irvine grabbed his hat and then walked over to Ultimecia, and poked her in the ribs.

"Ow." Ultimecia moaned, her cry slightly muffled by the table.

"She's alive." Irvine stated. Squall resisted the urge to facepalm.

"And you haven't killed her yet because?" Squall asked.

"Erm, 'cause you didn't ask me to." Irvine replied. Squall's right eye twitched.

"Just kill her already." Squall moaned. Irvine picked up his gun, checked it was loaded and then hit Ultimecia on the head with the butt of it.

"Ow, seriously Griever, don't you have a better way to wake me up in the morning than smacking me on the head?" Ultimecia shouted, lifting her head slightly, "Griever?" She turned her head towards Irvine.

"Hi!" Irvine said, waving hello. Squall resisted the urge to demote him one Seed rank for blatant stupidity. Ultimecia on the other hand, had jumped up off the table and was trying to back her way through a wall.

"Get away from me, you're going to kill me again!" Ultimecia shouted, grabbing a vase off a nearby table and throwing it at Irvine, who dodged just in time. This made Squall's eyebrow raise.

"Why isn't she just casting Apocalypse or Hell's Judgement?" Squall thought to himself, "Unless, she has no powers!" Squall ran over to block Ultimecia off and drew his gunblade.

"Irvine, change of plans, aprehend and detain." Squall shouted, staring at Ultimecia, who was now backing herself into a corner.

"What'cha gonna do with her?" Selphie asked, watching Squall wheel the subdued sorceress down the corridor away from the canteen with the help of Irvine.

"Get her a therapy session with our therapist." Squall huffed, turned the corner and heading for the infirmary.

"But our therapist is..." Selphie started before she realised what was going on, "Oh." She muttered. Squall wheeled the trolley right up the stairs leading to Doctor Kadowaki's office before turning left and heading into the new waiting area. Pushing the door to the therapist's office open with the trolley, Squall wheeled Ultimecia into the middle of the room and spun it to face the therapist's desk.

"Squall?" The therapist asked.

"Yes Rinoa?"

"What the hell is she doing in my office on a trolley?" Rinoa shouted, sitting in her chair.

"She landed on a table in the canteen." Squall stated, "And she seems powerless."

"And your reason for bringing her in here?" Rinoa asked.

"For the lulz" Irvine said before Squall smacked him across the head.

"Because I think she needs help. Your help." Squall said. Rinoa's eyes lit up at this.

"Oh Squally, you think I'm a good therapist?" Rinoa asked, clasping her hands together and standing so close to Squall he could knock her over by breathing on her. Squall nodded. "Yay!" Rinoa shouted, jumping up and down. Ultimecia couldn't say anything because of the strap holding her jaw shut, but her eyes widened in fear at the sight of Rinoa celebrating.

Rinoa sat in her comfy leather chair, her arms on the rests. Ultimecia sat across from her on a leather sofa. Rinoa had let her out of the restraints and pushed her onto the couch. Ultimecia's only reason for not fleeing in abject terror was that the only was out of the office was locked and probably had a squad of Seed standing guard. And going out the window would only result in an untimely death.

"Let's talk about your childhood." Rinoa started, "What is your happiest memory of childhood?" Ultimecia shook her head, "I don't know. Kan't remember."

"Try." Rinoa replied. Again, Ultimecia shook her head. "Ok, let's try something different. What can you remember of your parents?"

"Nothing. No memory." Ultimecia stated staring at the coffee table.

"Come on, you must have had parents!" Rinoa said.

"No memory." Ultimecia repeated.

"How about children, what do you think of them?" Rinoa asked, writing something down on a clipboard. Ultimecia shrugged.

"No feeling." Rinoa put the clipboard down.

"I think I can see one of your problems already, you had a bad childhood. So bad you've repressed your memories of it." Rinoa said, "So, why not do something about it?" Ultimecia tilted her head slightly. "Why not do some volunteer work in an orphanage?" Rinoa suggested. Ultimecia's eyes went wide with fear once more. "Aw, don't worry, I know of a great place. Isolated too. And the owner's are very understanding, you're past should be no problem at all." Rinoa said happily, completely ignoring the look of fear in Ultimecia's eyes.

"I've got a two word response – no way." Cid Kramer stated flatly. Rinoa was sitting on a sofa with Ultimecia next to her. Opposite them, Cid and Edea were sitting in armchairs. For once in her life, Ultimecia was wearing a red dress which did not show anything off. "The children would be scared of her." Cid stated. As if to prove a point, five of their children ran into the room and started pestering Cid and Edea for sweets and a story. Edea sighed and handed out some candy. One of the children stood in front of Ultimecia, staring at her. Cid and Rinoa watched carefully.

"Edea's sister pwetty." The child said, climbing onto Ultimecia's lap and hugging her. Rinoa had to suppress laughter at the sight of a five year old clinging to the former sorceress. Ultimecia on the other hand wasn't so happy. The look in her eyes clearly said, 'Get it off me!' and she was trying to get as far back as she could in the chair. By this time, Edea had noticed Ultimecia's discomfort and bribed the child off her with candy. The children went back out of the room as Edea sat back down.

"See, that child wasn't scared of her." Rinoa stated.

"But she was scared of the child." Cid countered, "This is an orphanage, we can't have staff who are scared of children."

"Why not think of it as rehabilitation?" Rinoa suggested, "Surely surrounding her with children in a loving environment would desensitise her?" Edea nodded at this, smiling. Cid lowered his head, seeing clearly that any further argument would fail.

"I accept on one condition." Cid stated.

"Name it."

"She get's weekly therapy sessions from you." Cid said, pointing at Ultimecia.

"Done." Rinoa said, shaking his hand.

_AN: I should probably explain at this point that this is my first Final Fantasy fanfiction, and is an idea that's been racking around my head for a couple of weeks now. I'll be adding chapters as and when they're done. Hope everyone reading enjoyed it. Rate and review, please._


	2. Chapter 2: Not The Future Anymore

Rehab

Chapter Two: Not The Future Any More

Ultimecia woke up slowly, hoping that everything had been some terrible dream, that she had not gone back from her own time into the time of the legendary Seeds and ended up working in an orphanage run by Cid and Edea Kramer. As her eyes opened, she found herself in the small room in the lighthouse she had gone to sleep in. Which meant she hadn't been dreaming.

"How kan I get bakk home?" Ultimecia thought to herself, sitting up in her bed and hugging her knees. It was fair to say that she was frightened; she had lost her powers, she was surrounded by her enemies and to make things worse she was stuck helping Edea look after children. Years of isolation had left Ultimecia scared of other people, fearful that they would come after her and burn her to death.

"Ultie, you awake yet?" Edea called up the stairs. When she didn't get a response, Edea's footsteps echoed up the stairs as she walked to Ultimecia's room. Pushing the door open gently, Edea found her sitting up in bed, her back to the wall. "Good morning." Edea greeted her. Ultimecia remained silent. "Coming down for breakfast, or are you going to sit in here all day?" Edea asked, gesturing to the empty room. Cid might have relented at letting Ultimecia work there, but he drew the line at her sleeping in their house. So, it had been decided she would have one of the old rooms in the lighthouse. Since it had been years since the lighthouse had been maintained properly the children were not allowed to go up there – some of the steps were weak and some rooms had missing floorboards. Ultimecia stared at Edea before standing up and staring out the window. Far below them, some of the children were eating outside on the beach. Which meant that if Ultimecia wanted food, she'd have to go through them. She gripped the windowsill hard, which made Edea notice and come over.

"Don't be shy – the children won't bite!" Edea joked, grabbing Ultimecia's hand and leading her out the room and down the stairs, Ultimecia reluctantly following. When they got to the ground floor and stepped out onto the beach, Ultimecia shielded her eyes from the sun's glare. Some of the children noticed her and began to walk over. Edea noticed Ultimecia's hand tense in her own and felt her trying to pull back into the lighthouse. So, she told the children to go and see if Cid needed any help.

Having managed to half lead/half drag Ultimecia into her kitchen, Edea set about making her some toast while the woman herself sat at the table staring into space. Luckily, all the children were in another part of the building, which meant that Edea didn't have to get them out again. Until Cid decided he needed to fix this by walking into the kitchen carrying a three year old girl and dumping her in Ultimecia's lap.

"Watch this one, she's tired." Cid said, sounding half asleep himself as he walked right back out of the kitchen. Ultimecia sat back in her chair and stared at the sleeping infant, who was curled up into a ball. When Edea came back with her toast and noticed that Ultimecia hadn't run off even though there was a child in the room, she smiled and sat opposite her, pushing the toast towards Ultimecia, who took a piece and ate it slowly.

After Ultimecia had finished her breakfast, Edea lead her back out into the courtyard where a couple of children were helping Cid hang washing on a clothes line. The child who had fallen asleep in Ultimecia's lap was being carried by Edea. Cid noticed the two women standing there, Ultimecia staring at the children and Edea staring at the one she was carrying.

"Are either of you going to help me?" Cid asked, holding up a random shirt. Edea motioned for Ultimecia to go, who slowly walked towards Cid, slowing right down when some of the children turned and stared at her. Cid just threw a couple of shirts at her and pointed at the basket of pegs. Ultimecia blinked a bit before realising what she was supposed to do. Finishing off the task of hanging the clothes up, Ultimecia noticed a couple of children tugging at her dress. Staring down at them in the hope that they would realise she wasn't Edea or Cid and prompty go away, Ultimecia was surprised when the children all asked for the same thing at the same time, "We want candy!" the children cried, giving her puppy dog eyes. Ultimecia just stared at them, somehow sure she was going to be blamed for some of the children crying. Until Edea came over and handed out candy as a bribe for the children to go and play somewhere else.

Ultimecia stared at Edea as she sat down at a table that had been placed so it overlooked the beach, where a few children were playing in the sand. Edea motioned to the bench opposite her. Ultimecia sat down and stared at the water.

"We haven't talked properly yet." Edea stated suddenly, surprising Ultimecia. When she didn't receive a reply, Edea continued, "First off, how exactly did you end up here?" Ultimecia shrugged. "Ok, how about the last thing you remember before waking up in Balamb Garden?"

"Waking up in my bedroom." Ultimecia spoke quietly, "Griever was shaking my shoulder."

"Do you remember what you had done the previous day?" Edea asked. Ultimecia shook her head. Edea sighed and leaned backwards slightly. "How do you like the children?" Edea asked.

"Khildren?"

"The orphans." Edea said, gesturing to a group on the beach, "You seem to be slowly getting used to them." Ultimecia shrugged her shoulders and stared at the sea. Edea scrutinised Ultimecia's expression. Sadness, longing, hope. All reflected in her red eyes.

"I kan't go bakk, kan I?" Ultimecia stated sadly. Edea shook her head.

"Apart from the fact that we don't know how you got here, Rinoa's not powerful enough to send you back." Edea said, "I'm sorry."

"I'm stukk here." Ultimecia said, more to herself than to Edea. "What am I supposed to do? I kan't live here for the rest of my life. People kould get to me here."

"You're afraid you'd be hunted down and killed?" Edea said, not entirely surprised. She remembered only too well what Ultimecia had said on that balcony in Deling City, using her lips. Worse, she remembered what Ultimecia had been thinking when she'd been possessing Edea.

"I'm sure Rinoa could talk Squall into forging some personal documentation for you if it came to it." Edea said after a while, "No one has to know your true identity. We haven't even told the children your name." Ultimecia stood up and strolled back to the lighthouse, leaving Edea to watch as Ultimecia walked, carefully avoiding the children.

Ultimecia lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. So many emotions were flowing through her. Fear, for what could come. Anger at being taken from everything she knew and dumped into what she considered another world. Hope that she could find some way to escape. And longing. Ultimecia knew that she had forgotten something. But what it was, she had no way of knowing, otherwise she'd be able to remember it. Ultimecia rolled onto her side and closed her eyes, listening to the waves crash onto the beach.

_AN: In case anyone is thinking I can't spell properly, the reason Ultimecia's speech keeps having k's instead of c's is because that's how she talks in the game. Rate and review please._


	3. Chapter 3: Edea Does Not Like Swearing

Rehab

Chapter Three: Edea Does Not Like Swearing

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy 8, it is owned by Squaresoft

_AN: Warning: Characters are going to be swearing! If you don't like hearing characters cursing like sailors, don't read._

Edea stared out of the window of her kitchen as she washed some dishes. Next to her, Ultimecia was helping by wiping them and sticking them in cupboards. Like Edea, Ultimecia was staring out the window, but until Edea, who was staring at some children playing on the beach, Ultimecia was staring at the ocean.

"Edea what does fuck mean?" A child asked behind them, making both women drop what they were holding, sending two plates on a collision course with the floor. Edea turned around and stared at the child, gripping the sink with her hands to steady her. The five year old boy stared at Edea expectantly.

"Where exactly did you hear that word?" Edea asked, trying very hard to remain calm. The boy shrugged.

"What's it mean?" The boy asked again as Cid walked into the kitchen carrying a tray filled with cutlery.

"What does what mean?" Cid asked cheerfully. The boy repeated the word, making Cid drop the tray, which meant a lot more broken cutlery. After telling the boy off for swearing and promising that the next time he heard language like that he'd be rinsing the child's mouth with soap and water, Cid shut the door and stared at the two women.

"Okay, so explain to me why I just heard one of our five year olds swearing?" Cid asked angrily.

"Probably heard it somewhere." Ultimecia shrugged.

"But where? I don't swear, Edea doesn't swear in front of the children. That leaves you." Cid said, rounding on the former sorceress. Edea stood in front of Ultimecia.

"If it had been Ultie the kid had heard it from, he'd have said fukk." Edea pointed out.

"So, who did the kid hear it from?" Cid asked.

"FUCKING WORK YOU FUCKING PIECE OF USELESS FUCKING SHIT!" A loud voice boomed, making Edea, Ultimecia and Cid run out to find the source of the noise. A couple of meters away from the orphanage, the Ragnarok was parked. Standing next to one of the 'legs' of the ship and kicking it whilst shouting and swearing like a sailor was Selphie.

"I think we found our answer." Edea sighed. Cid was about to go over there to give Selphie what for when two more voices joined in. Nearby where Selphie was kicking the Ragnarok, Squall was polishing his gunblade and swearing like a marine. Near him, Irvine was polishing his gun and was also swearing quite loudly.

"Ultie, get the kids inside." Edea said. Ultimecia walked off to accomplish her task as Edea and Cid walked over to the swearing Seeds.

Selphie stopped kicking the Ragnarok when she heard footsteps approaching. Out of habit, she launched straight into a salute as Edea and Cid walked over. Seeing it was only the Kramers, Selphie eased up and smiled at them. They didn't return it, instead they glared at her.

"What's up?" Selphie asked cheerfully.

"Selphie. This is an orphanage." Edea stated coldly. Selphie wondered if Edea had been possessed by Captain Obvious before continuing to smile at her. "Orphanages house children." Selphie giggled slightly, making Edea's eyes narrow. "Children should not be learning adult language." Edea pointed out. Selphie nodded. "So why are you swearing so loudly?" Edea asked, crossing her arms.

"Um, 'cause the Ragnarok's air conditioning broke down." Selphie stated, quickly, "So I came out here to fix it, then I dropped a spanner on my foot which fucking hurt so I went inside to get a first aid kit, but it was fucking empty so I came out here to shout at Squall for not refilling it before we left when I saw him using a fucking wad of bandages to fucking polish his fucking gunblade so I shouted at him and stormed over and kicked the side of the Ragnarok which made my fucking foot hurt more, so I got fucking angrier and kept fucking kicking it." In her head, Edea tried to count how many profanities she'd just heard Selphie say. The total answer was eight. Edea put her hand to her forehead. This was going to be a long conversation.

Cid stormed over to the still cussing and completely oblivious Irvine. Grabbing the bottle of polish out of Irvine's hand, Cid kicked it onto the roof of the orphanage before rounding on Irvine and Squall.

"What possessed the pair of you to start swearing so loudly within earshot of the children?" Cid growled. Squall shrugged.

"Felt like it." Irvine flippantly remarked. Cid grabbed Irvine's shoulders and forced him to his feet.

"Would you like it if someone taught your child how to swear when they were five?" Cid shouted in his face.

"No." Irvine replied.

"Then don't do it in earshot of mine." Cid shouted, letting go of Irvine's shoulders.

"Why not?" Squall asked passively. Cid glared at him.

"Because when a five year old hears a new word, they'll use it a lot regardless of whether they know the meaning or not." Cid explained.

Ultimecia stood in the doorway leading out of the living area, blocking the children from going outside and hearing the Kramers shouting. However, that didn't stop the children from making enough of a racket to cause a headache to the former sorceress. Leading the rest in what Ultimecia assumed was their 'let's give the new woman a migrane so she'll go away' game was the five year old who'd said something bad in the kitchen that Edea and Cid hadn't approved of. Why was beyond Ultimecia's current knowledge. But now the kid was using the same word as if it was a baseball chant, starting off slowly before getting to each word quicker and quicker before repeating it five times in quick succession. Ultimecia didn't doubt that if Edea or Cid were there they'd be doing something to stop it. But Ultimecia didn't know why it was wrong and was thus not bothered by it. Apart from the fact that it was noisy and she now had a headache. And someone screaming behind her just made it worse. Turning around to give whoever it was an earful, Ultimecia found Edea standing behind her. Massaging her forehead, Ultimecia wondered why Edea had screamed. Until the boy started swearing again and Edea ran into the room and held the child's mouth shut so he couldn't swear anymore. When he had finished attempting to swear, Edea scolded him for swearing, shouted at the children that whatever four letter word they had heard being shouted by the Seeds was not nice and not to be repeated and then grabbed Ultimecia's hand and dragged her into the kitchen.

"Why didn't you stop him swearing?" Edea asked. Ultimecia just shrugged, "You do know swearing is bad, right?" Edea asked. Again, Ultimecia shrugged. Edea sighed. This was going to be a long day.


	4. Chapter 4: Selphie Is Not A Good Guide

Rehab

Chapter Four: Selphie Is Not A Good Guide

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy 8, it is owned by Squaresoft

"Ulti, wake up!" Rinoa shouted, pounding on Ultimecia's door. The woman in question just grabbed her alarm clock and threw it at the door.

"Go away, I have a headakhe." Ultimecia groaned before Rinoa burst into her room and ripped Ultimecia's duvet off her.

"Come on, you're going to be late for the Ragnarok launch." Rinoa stated, grabbing one of Ultimecia's feet and pulling it off the bed. Ultimecia groaned and made a half-hearted attempt at getting back to bed which Rinoa countered by pulling her out of bed.

"Why's the Ragnarok going?" Ultimecia asked as Rinoa pushed her into her closet, causing several identical red dresses to fall to the floor on top of her.

"Because, we're all going on a spending spree in Deling City and you're coming too." Rinoa announced, "Edea's coming too, the boys are holding the fort here." Ultimecia poked her head out of the pile of clothes.

"B-but people would rekognise me!" Ultimecia stammered in horror. Rinoa grinned.

"That's the best part, I got Squall to fix you up a fake ID." Rinoa announced, rummaging in her pockets before pulling out an identification card, "You're name's now Ivy Wolf and you're a member of garden staff." Rinoa smiled, giving Ultimecia the card. Ultimecia stared at the piece of plastic bearing her assumed name and some other fake information along with a photo of her minus her distinctive tattoos, her eyes hidden behind glasses. Rinoa rummaged through Ultimecia's clothes, which were all Edea's old dresses that had been bleached and dyed red.

"We desperately need to get you some new clothes. You can't wear a red dress into Deling!" Rinoa moaned before giving up, "We'll get Selphie to lend you something and get you changed on the way. And at this rate we'll be eating and doing your makeup on the way too!" Rinoa said, pulling Ultimecia out of the closet and tugging her out the room and down the stairs.

"Makeup? For what?" Ultimecia asked as she was pulled down the stairs.

"To hide your tattoos, they're too distinctive." Rinoa said as they got out of the light house. Rinoa pulled Ultimecia across the beach and up through the orphanage before going out the door and towards the Ragnarok before boarding it. Rinoa left Ultimecia in the briefing room before running to the cockpit to ask Selphie for spare clothes and make up.

Ultimecia gripped the chair tightly as Selphie launched the Ragnarok and it went shooting into the air, making her stomach go into her mouth. It didn't go back down, even when Rinoa came bounding into the room followed by Quistis and Edea, who were holding make-up bags. Rinoa was holding a spare set of clothes and some boots. Forcing Ultimecia into the yellow sundress, Rinoa pouted when Selphie's spare boots didn't go on first time. As Rinoa was trying to force Ultimecia's feet into Selphie's boots, Quistis and Edea set about covering up her tattoos and hands whilst chattering about their favourite subject – fashion. Rinoa finished stuffing Ultimecia's feet into the boots and sat on her knees, staring at Ultimecia's hair.

"We need to cover up her hair too, it's too obvious." Rinoa stated. Ultimecia wanted nothing more than to refuse. She liked her hair the way it was and nothing Rinoa could say or do or threaten her with was going to change that. Rinoa on the other hand had decided that it would be a great idea to put a wig on Ultimecia. A wig with long brown hair curled up at the ends. In other words; Quistis, Edea and Rinoa had succeeded in making Ultimecia into a body double of Selphie. Rinoa even put coloured contact lenses into Ultimecia's eyes to hide her red eyes, making them look brown. Now the only way to tell the difference between Ultimecia and Selphie was to see who was bouncing up and down and who looked like they'd rather be anywhere else.

When they landed, Selphie bounced into the room and giggled happily when she saw Ultimecia pouting with her arms folded.  
"We're twins!" Selphie cried happily, pulling Ultimecia into a hug. Ultimecia just glared at the oblivious hyper girl.

"Now remember everyone, Ultimecia is going by the name Ivy Wolf, so refer to her by that from here on out." Rinoa reminded them.

"Aww, that's such a cute name, Ivy!" Selphie cheered, hugging Ultimecia again.

"Selphie, you're to stay with Ultimecia at all times and keep an eye on her." Rinoa stated over her shoulder, making Selphie even happier.

"Yay, I can get you a makeover!" Selphie shouted happily, hugging Ultimecia, who was staring wide-eyed at Rinoa as if she was mad. But it didn't work, and Ultimecia ended up being dragged off the ship by a very hyper Selphie.

Ultimecia stared at the fireworks being lit in the sky of Deling City. All around her the people were jostling each other to get in and out of shops. Selphie grabbed her wrist and yanked her through the crowds and into a clothes shop. Picking up a tonne of clothes off hangers whilst Ultimecia gawped at the sheer size of the store, Selphie dragged Ultimecia into the changing rooms and dumped the pile of clothes in her arms.

"Put these on and lets see what you look like in them." Selphie said cheerfully, pulling on the curtain and concealing Ultimecia within the changing room. Five minutes later, Selphie shouted impatiently, asking if 'Ivy' was decent. Ultimecia shouted back that she was, so Selphie pulled the curtain back to see the first outfit Ultimecia had put on. What she was not expecting was for Ultimecia to have put the entire pile of clothes on at the same time – over Selphie's borrowed sundress. Selphie giggled as she pulled the top layer of clothes off Ultimecia.

"You're supposed to try on one set of clothes at a time, silly. And your not meant to wear your clothes under them!" Selphie said. Ultimecia was starting to wonder if Selphie was on a permanent sugar high. Selphie shut the curtain again and left Ultimecia to get changed into the first outfit. When she was ready, Selphie opened the curtains. Ultimecia was wearing a green pair of trousers and a green jacket, which she'd left undone. Selphie giggled as she reached for the zipper.

"You're supposed to do the jacket up, Ivy." Selphie said playfully. Ultimecia swatted her hand away.

"I like it like this." Ultimecia said, "Very comfy."

"Yes, but don't you think it's a bit..." Selphie hesitated as she tried to think of the right word, "Revealing?" Ultimecia shook her head. "Okay, we'll put those in the maybe pile. Next outfit!" Selphie shut the curtains again. After a few minutes, she opened them again to find Ultimecia wearing green tights, green boots and a green tank top.

"Ivy, isn't that top a bit, tight?" Selphie asked. Ultimecia shook her head.

After about two hours of fitting on clothes, Ultimecia and Selphie left the shop carrying bags filled with new clothes and shoes. Selphie then gleefully walked straight into another shop that sold only videogames. Wandering around behind the cheerful bundle of fun named Selphie, Ultimecia allowed her eyes to wander over the boxes and take in their titles.

"What's this one about?" Ultimecia asked, holding up a box. Selphie took it off her and put it back.

"You don't want to play that game, it's depressing." Selphie stated, "There's too many cutscenes and too much death." Selphie rummaged through before pulling out another box, "Try this one instead, it's based on a comic and is fun." Walking back out of the store, Ultimecia and Selphie passed a coffee shop, which Selphie begged to be allowed to go in. Having realised that the girl was hyper enough as it was, Ultimecia dragged Selphie away from the shop and towards some fountains. Jumping in the fountains and kicking the water about, Selphie managed to scare away most of the people who had been sitting there already. Watching her jumping in the water, Ultimecia watched as Selphie sat in the water and giggled.

Fifteen minutes later and Quistis walked past the fountain, being followed by Rinoa. Both of them had piles of bags in her hands. Quistis stared at Selphie as she started swinging on a statute in the fountain. Nearby, Ultimecia was sitting on a bench with their purchases and staring at the hyper active girl.

"Selphie, out of the fountain!" Quistis commaned. Selphie groaned. "Now." Selphie climbed out of the fountain, dripping water onto the floor.

"Selphie, you are a member of Seed, an elite special forces group. Not some teenaged drunkard." Quistis admonished. Rinoa went over to sit by Ultimecia.

"So, how have you enjoyed being in the city?" Rinoa asked.

"People are skary." Ultimecia mumbled. Not the answer Rinoa was expecting.

"What? Why?" Rinoa gasped. Ultimecia just pointed at Selphie, who was now dancing and singing her favourite song about trains. "Okay, but not everyone is like that." Rinoa said before thinking of the best idea to prove this to her, "I know, let's go to a karaoke bar!" Quistis turned to glare at her.

"Rinoa, why did you just say that within earshot of..." Quistis started.

"KARAOKE!" Selphie shouted, cutting Quistis off and jumping up and down in the air before running off in the direction of the nearest bar, leaving Rinoa, Quistis and Ultimecia to follow along after her.

By the time they had got into the bar, the end of the world had been summoned. Selphie had brought and consumed alcohol. Which meant she was currently jumping around on the stage and singing about trains very loudly.

"STOP SINGER." A loud feminine voice boomed. Quistis turned around to see Fujin standing behind the bar, apparently very peeved that Selphie was scaring customers away with her singing. Rinoa paled. Where there was Fujin there was...

"But I only gave her half a glass, and I watered it down, ya know!" Raijin protested as Fujin kicked him in the shin. This made Rinoa feel even worse. Where those two were, then Seifer inevitably was there as well. As if by magic, Seifer walked out of a back office and went to grab Selphie to throw her off the stage, before he spotted the others.

"Is this some sort of revenge, Instructor?" Seifer asked, walking over to Quistis, "I disrupted your classes for a year so you bring in the human sugar ball over there to ruin my business." Seifer turned to Ultimecia, "And who is this?" Seifer asked.

"Ivy Wolf. Pleased to meet you." Ultimecia stated, holding out her hand. Rinoa noticed that Ultimecia didn't even seem to recognise her former knight. Seifer shook her hand.

"Have you been in Deling long?" Seifer asked.

"For a kouple of hours, my friends were koming shopping with me." Ultimecia explained. Rinoa winced when Ultimecia pronounced her c's as k's in front of Seifer, who would no doubt recognise her speech pattern and put two and two together.

"That's an interesting accent you have there." Seifer stated, folding his arms, "Which country are you from?"

"Kentra." Ultimecia stated, "I live at the orphanage with Kid and Edea Kramer." Ultimecia then went off to order a drink. Seifer grabbed Rinoa's arm.

"Since when did you allow that witch to come here?" Seifer said under his breath."

"What witch?" Rinoa asked, trying to play dumb.

"That witch!" Seifer stated, pointing at Ultimecia, "That's the sorceress isn't it."

"No." Rinoa stated.

"What? Come on, only one person we know has that accent." Seifer stated, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill her where she stands."

"Because she has no powers," Rinoa explained, "She showed up in Balamb Garden out of nowhere, powerless. I thought it would be good for her to get used to people." Seifer looked at Rinoa as if she was insane.

"In what twisted universe is that supposed to make sense?" Seifer demanded.

"Uh, Seif." Raijin tried to interrupt.

"Not now, I am busy." Seifer shouted.

"But Seif, it's about that new girl, ya know." Raijin continued.

"What about her?" Seifer asked, turning around in time to see Ultimecia down a pint of something alcoholic and then join Selphie on the stage. He turned back to Rinoa. "Now she's drunk, are ya happy?"

Rinoa boiled up some strong coffee on the flight back to Centra. Quistis was piloting since Selphie was currently unconscious after downing about half a galon of booze. Ultimecia wasn't in as bad a shape, but there was no way Cid would be happy if Rinoa dumped a drunken Ultimecia on his doorstep. Pouring the coffee into Ultimecia's mouth, Rinoa massaged her throat to get her to swallow it. Ultimecia bolted up out of her chair and started screaming.

"Ow, hot, hot, hot!" Ultimecia shouted. Rinoa sighed, tomorrow was going to be a hell of a long day.

_AN: In case anyone is wondering where I got the name Ivy Wolf from, Ultimecia's voice actress in Dissidia voiced both Poison Ivy in a recent Batman game and Sniper Wolf in Metal Gear Solid under the pseudonym Julie Monroe, so I thought it would be cool to give Ultimecia an identity combining the two. I could hardly give her the names Poison Sniper, Ivy Sniper or Wolf Poison now could I? I also snuck in another reference to the two in the fic – see if you can find them._


	5. Chapter 5: The Morning After

Rehab

Chapter Five: The Morning After

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy VIII, it is the property of Square-Enix.

Rinoa sat in the Kramer's kitchen, looking out the window as the tide crashed onto the beach. The children were all still in bed. Only Cid and Edea were up early. And neither of them were very happy. Edea was sipping her coffee and staring at the wall, pointedly not looking at Rinoa. Cid's expression could have made boulders crack in half.

"Exactly how much did she have to drink then?" Cid asked. Rinoa gulped. Whilst she had tried to get Ultimecia back without the Kramers noticing the fact that the former sorceress was drunk, it hadn't worked out as planned. How had Rinoa been supposed to know that Edea had been tending to her roses, which were grown by the wall separating the orphanage from the fields, when Rinoa had pushed Ultimecia over the wall and into the rose patch instead of going through the front door. Edea had gone balistic, especially when Selphie walked straight through the front door, spun around in the corridor and vomited all over the floor. Cid had promptly dragged the drunken Seed into the bathroom, pushed her into the bath and turned the shower on, spraying her with cold water.

"Um, I don't know, I wasn't really watching." Rinoa answered, fiddling with her fingers. Edea slammed her coffee mug on the table.

"Rubbish, someone must have bene watching. Did she reveal herself to anyone?" Rinoa rubbed her arm carelessly.

"Well, Seifer did manage to work out who she was, but that was because of her accent." Rinoa stated.

"What exactly did Seifer have to do with this?" Cid asked.

"Oh, he's the owner of the bar we visited." Rinoa smiled. It wasn't returned by either of the Kramers. Ultimecia walked in through the door and stood in the doorway.

"My mouth tastes of vomit and my head hurts." Ultimecia moaned. Edea stood up and took the hungover woman into the lounge, leaving Rinoa with Cid.

Walking into the lounge, Edea looked at the couch that Selphie was napping on. Drool was hanging out the younger woman's mouth and she was Ultimecia down on a chair, Edea left the room to make sure that the children did not walk in on either the hungover adults or the angry Cid. But nothing was going to stop Cid shouting.

"What do you mean 'she only had a few shots of vodka'?" Cid bellowed. Edea shook her head, there was no way any child was going to walk in to the sight of Cid shouting. Peeping into the lounge, Edea noticed Ultimecia had managed to get up from the chair and was now crawling around on the carpet, laughing her head off. Whatever she had drunk must have been strong. Edea picked up a phone and grabbed a Galbadian phone book, flipping through it to find the number she wanted. Typing it in, Edea put the phone to her ear.

"Seifer?" Edea asked as the person on the other end picked up.

"Matron?" Seifer's voice echoed down the phone line, "What do you want?"

"To know how much Selphie and Ivy drank last night and what they drank." Edea stated.

"Why would you care about that?"

"Because they're at the orphanage, both of them have hangovers but they are still drunk." Edea replied, looking through the window in the door to see Ultimecia crawl straight towards a wall, banging her head on it.

"Okay. Selphie had three vodka shots straight up." Seifer said, "And Ivy had two shots of vodka and a gin and tonic." Selphie had woken up by now and was giggling away at the sight of Ultimecia repeatedly bashing her head against the wall.

"Thanks, er what is the quickest way to bring someone around from being drunk?" Edea asked quickly.

"Err. Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm currently watching Ivy smash her head against a wall and Selphie laugh at it." Edea said, opening the door and heading into the room.

"Okay, first of all; messenger girl will laugh at anything, ignore her. Secondly, the only way to fix it is time. You've got to let the booze pass through their system." Seifer said down the phone as Edea pulled Ultimecia away from the wall and lead her back to a chair.

"Okay Seifer, thanks for everything." Edea said as she hung up the phone and stared at the two drunken women, both of whom were laughing. Edea sighed, she was used to caring for children. Caring for a pair of drunken women shouldn't be too difficult.

Rinoa walked out of the kitchen as Cid went to get the children breakfast. Half an hour of 'why did you think it would be such a great idea to take her out in public' and 'why didn't you assign someone more responcible to watch her' made Rinoa want to curl up and break down. Walking into the room where Edea was attempting to give Selphie and Ultimecia water made Rinoa lighten up almost instantly. Edea had turned around which gave Selphie the perfect opportunity to throw her glass at Edea's back, soaking her. As the glass made contact both Selphie and Ultimecia burst out into fits of laughter. Edea looked over at Rinoa.

"These two are worse than four year olds. Can you watch them whilst I help Cid?" Edea asked as she ran out of the room. Rinoa turned around to see the two staring at her with wide eyes and wider grins. Rinoa thought that since time was the only thing left to sober them up, and she was a sorceress, why not cast haste on the pair of them. Rinoa decided to do so and watched as the women twitched slightly as the spell took effect. One moment, the two women were sat down, the next they were running around so fast Rinoa could only just see them and they were shouting loudly and giggling. Before Rinoa could stop her, Selphie ran out the room shouting, "Look at the butterflys." Ultimecia just ran around the room cheerfully.

'If Cid and Edea see this, they're gonna blame me!' Rinoa thought, readying a sleep spell. Ultimecia stood in the middle of the room, batting the light around and staring at it. Focusing on the former sorceress, Rinoa cast a sleep spell, knocking Ultimecia out, who fell to the floor and started snoring. 'One down, one to go' Rinoa thought to herself.

"Lookit the butterfly's!" Selphie cheered happily, running around and trying to grab some butterflys. The drunk Seed ran straight past Cid and Edea, scaring half the children who ran as far away from her as they could. Rinoa ran out of the main building and cast Sleep on Selphie, who tottered on her feet for a few seconds before collapsing on the floor. As Edea picked the unconscious Selphie up by her arms and started to drag her into the house, Cid rounded on Rinoa.

"You have a lot of explaining to do." Cid stated, furiously.

_AN: Rate and review please._


	6. Chapter 6: Change Of Scene

Rehab

Chapter 6: Change Of Scene

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy, it is owned by Square-Enix.

Rinoa walked briskly into the orphanage, it had been an entire week since Ultimecia had been left there and Rinoa wanted to see how she was getting on. Walking through a crowd of children who were playing, Rinoa walked into a living area to see Edea and Cid sitting on one couch and Ultimecia sitting on her own on another. Edea and Cid were staring as Rinoa sat down whereas Ultimecia just stared out the window at the lighthouse.

"Well, how's she been?" Rinoa asked. Edea and Cid stared nervously at each other and then turned back towards Rinoa.

"She's been okay, but I think she might benefit from being somewhere else." Edea sighed.

"Somewhere else? What do you mean?" Rinoa said. Cid stood up and picked up a glass of water.

"You said when you first brought her here that your aim was to rehabilitate her, right?" Cid answered, sitting back down, "Well, don't you think it would be better to put her in a place with a variety of people as opposed to an orphanage?"

"And where exactly would you suggest I put her?" Rinoa asked, slightly annoyed.

"Balamb Garden." Cid answered, suddenly becoming very interested in his shoes. Rinoa nearly fell off her chair.

"Right, so Squall can kick my ass about keeping her around in the first place." Rinoa remarked.

"Say, wouldn't it be nice to enrol Ultimecia here?" Rinoa stated, watching as Squall's eyebrows got a divorce from his eyes and went skyward. On Rinoa's right was Edea, who Rinoa had insisted came along as well to help break the news. On Rinoa's left was Ultimecia, who was staring at a painting on the wall.

"Have you two lost you're minds?" Squall said, trying very hard not to shout, "She nearly destroyed the world!"

"Which makes it a good reason to keep her somewhere where she can be watched." Edea stated, "And where's better than in your base?" Squall turned to stare at Edea.

"Um, how about we just save us all some time and shoot her now." Squall suggesed. Ultimecia gripped her chair tightly and started shaking.

"SQUALL LEONHEART!" Rinoa and Edea shouted together.

"What? It was just a suggestion?" Squall said. Rinoa watched as Ultimecia tried to curl her feet up on the chair and hug her knees to her chest without sliding off.

"Come on, Squall. I wasn't suggesting we just announce it over the comms system. 'Hey everyone, remember that sorceress we fought? Guess who our newest student is!'" Rinoa remarked sarcastically.

"Um, everyone would notice who she was." Squall pointed out.

"So enrol her under her false identity." Rinoa countered.

"She has very distinctive tattoos." Squall tried.

"We get them taken off with laser surgery." Rinoa said.

"We'd need to get her to a surgeon who wouldn't turn her in." Squall remarked, knowing full well that Rinoa would just keep arguing until he gave up.

"We blackmail one."

"Who're you thinking of blackmailing?"

"Odine."

"What? You can't just walk into Esthar with her get Odine to operate on her." Squall argued.

"No, we bring Odine here and threaten to tell everyone that he slept with Adel unless he co-operates." Rinoa said, folding her arms. She knew she'd won this argument.

"Just one thing – where do we put her?" Squall said.

"Er, the dorms!" Rinoa said, "Just like any other student."

That evening, after a very annoyed Odine had managed to remove all of Ultimecia's tattoo's whilst grumbling, Rinoa walked the now less shaken Ultimecia to her designated dorm room. Due to the lack of proper dorm rooms, some of the Seeds had been forced to share room's with normal students. Which had been a perfect excuse for what Rinoa had arranged. They walked down the grey corridor and stopped outside a room with a yellow door.

"Who lives in this room?" Ultimecia asked nervously.

"You're new room mate." Rinoa answered, pulling out a keycard, "Ivy Wolf, meet your new room mate." Rinoa said, pushing the door open and standing back. Almost as soon as the door opened, Ultimecia was attacked by a big yellow thing that jumped on her and started speaking.

"Oh-my-god! I can't believe it! Rinoa said I was getting a new roomie but, yay!" Selphie babbled, hugging Ultimecia so tightly the poor woman could barely breathe, "We're going to have so much fun together we can share stories do each other's hair the works!" Ultimecia tried to pull away from Selphie's grasp, but the petite Seed started to pull her into the room. Rinoa watched as Ultimecia was dragged into the room and the door closed.

Squall sat at his desk filling out paperwork as Irvine walked into the room with a portable radio which was dumped on top of Squall's desk and switched on.

"Irvine, I'm trying to work." Squall stated, not looking up from his papers. Irvine fiddled with the tv.

"Trust me, Squall, you'll want to listen to this." Irvine said. Squall looked up from his papers.

"_We're going to have so much fun, Ivy. Let's drink to having so much fun!"_ Selphie's voice echoed out of the radio as she raised a glass of something that was undoubtedly full of sugar.

"Is that Selphie's room?" Squall asked, "Why is there a microphone there?"

"_Do we have to drink to this? I thought you weren't allowed koffee."_ Ultimecia stated. Irvine started laughing as the two men realised what was about to happen.

"Irvine, where exactly did Selphie get coffee from when she's been banned from having it?" Squall asked. Irvine shrugged.

"Does it matter?"

After a few more minutes of trying to fill out paperwork, Squall gave up and called Zell to his office to join in the listening game. All three males were sitting down around the desk, sipping beer and lsitening to Selphie trying to be nice, but really just tormenting Ultimecia.

"_Whoo! Let's go and have some candy!"_ Selphie shouted. Irvine and Zell started laughing, picturing in their minds Ultimecia having to deal with a hyper Selphie.

"_Don't you think you've had enough kandy for one night?" _Ultimecia asked.

"_Um, nope! Tee-hee!"_ Selphie giggled, causing Irvine and Zell to start roaring with laughter. Unfortunately, the two men had made so much noise that Rinoa had noticed and wandered in.

"What the hell is going on in here!" Rinoa shouted. Irvine and Zell quickly ran out of the room, leaving Squall alone with his slightly peeved girlfriend. "Were you spying on Ivy?" Rinoa asked. Squall rapped his fingers on his desk nervously.

"It was all Irvine's idea." Squall blurted out. Rinoa just raised an eyebrow and uttered the words every man fears.

"You're sleeping on the couch for a week." Rinoa said as she left the room.

_AN: Rate and review, please._


	7. Chapter 7: What Is Wrong?

Rehab

Chapter Seven: What Is Wrong?

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy, it is owned by Square-Enix

Squall Leonheart sat at his desk, wading through another piece of paperwork. Unlike the usual pieces of Seed contracts and invoices however, this was something a bit more delicate. Ivy Wolf's schedule. Squall sat with his boots on his desk, peering at the weekly timetable with a pen in his hand, ready to strike through anything he didn't approve of. Standing or in some cases sitting around his office were the other members of Seed that Squall had entrusted with Ivy's true identity. Naturally, this also included Rinoa, who was sitting on another desk.

"Intelligence Gathering 101, shot." Squall announced, striking a line through the offending article.

"Why?" Selphie moaned, taking it personally that Squall was taking Ivy out of a class she helped to teach.

"Because it wouldn't be appropriate for her." Squall answered, "Sorceress History, shot."

"What?" Quistis asked. Squall put down his pen and the paper so he could stare at her as he informed her of his decision.  
"Because she is a former sorceress, and she's from the future. Apart from boring her out of her mind, it could make her want to kill us."

"Wake up, Squall, she hasn't displayed a single malicious action the entire time she's been here." Quistis raged, "If she was going to do something, she'd have done it by now. You can't just wrap her up in cotton wool and stick her in the basement." Squall looked like he was seriously considering that before turning to Rinoa.

"Rinoa, can you please find out exactly what she remembers about us and the battle?" Squall asked. Rinoa nodded.

"One condition. You stop treating her like a child and let her enrol in the standard classes like a normal student." Rinoa stated, "Singling her out will not do any good." Squall nodded his approval, prompting Rinoa to leave the office.

Stepping out of the lift at the ground floor, Rinoa walked down the steps and headed for the Caferteria. Looking around among the small crowd of students, Rinoa easily spotted Ultimecia sitting at one of the tables at the back, staring at it. Walking over, Rinoa sat down and watched as Ultimecia turned to look at her then turned away. Her face was completely devoid of her tattoos, having been removed by Doctor Kadowaki a few days earlier. Ultimecia's hair had also been bleached, making it a light blonde and cut into a short bob. Her wings had gradually fallen away whilst at the orphanage, where they'd been hidden under her long red dresses. Rinoa thought it was lucky, since Garden's uniform rules were getting slightly stricter, to the point where only Seeds and instructors could wear whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. The students had to wear their uniforms in class and when they went out on training missions. Which meant that Ultimecia was wearing the short skirt which all the female students wore, which wouldn't have hidden the bottom of her wings if they hadn't fallen off. Even her hands and feet were returning to a normal human shape and colour.

"Squall's agreed to enrol you on all the standard courses, and you'll be treated no differently in classes than anyone else." Rinoa stated, "The only condition is another therapy session." Ultimecia slumped her head on the table, before standing up and walking ahead of Rinoa to her office just off the infirmary corridor. Rinoa sat in her favourite chair as Ultimecia sat on the couch and stared out the window at the sky.

"What's the last thing you can remember before waking up in the canteen?" Rinoa asked, pen at the ready to note down the answers.

"Kan't remember." Ultimecia stated, Rinoa put the pen down. There was no way she could go to Squall with that.

"Okay, lie down on the couch and look at the ceiling." Rinoa ordered. Ultimecia gave her a look before swinging her feet up onto the couch and lying back. "Now, I want you to close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing." Ultimecia closed her eyes slowly. Rinoa moved her chair so she could watch Ultimecia's every move. "I want you to imagine the safest place you can think of, and visualise yourself there." Rinoa said, readying her pen once more, "Where are you?"

"A lighthouse." Ultimecia said, hesitantly. Rinoa jotted this down.

"What can you see from this lighthouse?" Rinoa asked.

"Klear sky." Ultimecia answered.

"How about what you can hear?"

"Birds kalling to each other."

"Is there anyone with you at the lighthouse?" Rinoa asked. Ultimecia shook her head. "Okay, we're going to move on from the lighthouse now. We can return there at any time you wish to. Do you understand?" Ultimecia nodded slowly. "We're in a castle, it's a big castle with lots of corridors and rooms. At one end is a clocktower." Rinoa described Ultimecia's castle as best as she could remember it, "What is going on at this castle?"

"Loneliness." Ultimecia answered almost immediately.

"Why is it lonely there?"

"Too skared."

"What is there to be frightened of?"

"People." Rinoa widened her eyes slightly, this wasn't the first time Ultimecia had mentioned fear and people.

"Why are they frightening? What would they be doing if they came to the castle?" Rinoa asked, leaning forward slightly.

"Destruktive. They would destroy everything in the kastle." Ultimecia said, screwing her eyes shut. Her expression reminded Rinoa of pain.

"Why would they be doing this?" Rinoa asked.

"Revenge. They h-hate me." Ultimecia stuttered.

"Is this castle yours?" Rinoa asked. Ultimecia nodded.

"I built it to get away from them. Why kan't they leave me alone?" Ultimecia asked, curling up and turning so she was facing away from Rinoa.

"Okay, we're going back to the lighthouse, there's no one there. Can you hear the birds?" Rinoa said, trying to calm Ultimecia down.

Rinoa walked down the corridor towards Squall's office, her clipboard in her left hand. The pages were full of observations which, while they didn't show Ultimecia posing any immediate threat to anyone else were still a cause for Rinoa to be concerned. Rinoa passed through Squall's door and walked straight up to his desk.

"Have you had another therapy session with Ivy?" Squall asked, leaning back in his chair. Rinoa nodded, "And?"

"It's not good." Rinoa said, looking at her notes, "Ultimecia isn't a threat to anyone else, but she definitely needs more help." Squall stared at her, trying to work out whether or not to just put them all out of their misery and order Irvine to shoot Ultimecia the next time she was on her own. "I've found out what caused Ultimecia to compress time." Rinoa stated. Squall turned to look at her and took his feet off his desk. "She was persecuted because she was a sorceress from a young age. She can't even remember her parents. All she can remember is being in a castle and people invading it, looking to kill her."

"Err, isn't that exactly what we did?" Squall reminded her.

"That's the thing, after I calmed her down when she panicked, I asked her if she could remember the last time anyone went into her castle – she didn't mention us." Rinoa stated.

"Which means?"

"She has no memory of us defeating her." Rinoa said, "But here's the thing, she did remember the orphanage after the battle. I had her imagining her memories were a film, and asked her to skip forward from the last person to enter her castle to the last thing she could remember before waking up here. Before, she said she couldn't remember, but this time, she said she could see an old building, with a woman dressed in black walking towards her and a man standing with a weapon drawn. But she couldn't make out any faces."

"So, she does have some memory. How do we know her other memories won't come back?" Squall asked.

"We don't, but I think that if we treat her right, whether they come back will make no difference." Rinoa argued. Squall cocked his head to one side. "If we can get her to see that not everyone is trying to kill her, she might be able to open up a little."

"And what happens if she gets her memories back and thinks 'screw everyone else, I wanna compress everything'?" Squall asked, slightly annoyed.

"She might not if we support her and show her another side to humanity which does not involve a lynch mob coming after her." Rinoa shouted, putting her hands on her hips.

"Fine," Squall sighed, "But I want her under constant covert surveillance and I want daily reports from her instructors. She so much as breathes the wrong way I want to know about it." Rinoa nodded her ascent before walking briskly out the room. Sometimes, getting Squall to do something was akin to bashing her head against a brick wall.

_AN: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far – just to put everyone out of their misery, the references way back in Chapter Four to Sniper Wolf and Poison Ivy were: 1) the outfits Ultimecia wore in the changing room, the first being Sniper Wolf's, the second being a similar outfit to Poison Ivy from the animated series. 2) In the shop, Selphie put down Metal Gear Solid and picked up a Batman game. Can't believe I just stuck a reference to the infamous "talk to a wall" line Squall says to Quistis on Disc 1 and later thinks on Disc 3 when Rinoa goes into a coma. Also, I know Ultimecia might be coming across as OOC right now, but don't worry – one of the plot points I wanna explore is how she went from being the wrathful, angry woman seen in the game to how she is here. Problem being that I'm being a bit of a nuisance and giving that plot point very s-l-o-w-l-y, so bear with me. I'll try to avoid anything cliché though – the last thing I want is for Ultimecia to look like she's swallowed a self-improvement manual. Unless it relates to her speech impediment, I keep typing the correct spelling before I notice, and at least once in this fic I've posted a chapter up then noticed that I've left a c in Ultimecia's speech unaltered._


	8. Chapter 8: First Days

Rehab

Chapter 8: First Days

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy 8, it is owned by Square-Enix.

"Wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey!" Selphie squealed, waking Ultimecia up in the loudest way she knew how. Ultimecia lifted her head off the pillow, opened one eye to see the petite girl standing in her doorway and closed it again.

"Go away, sleepy." Ultimecia groaned, lowering her head and pulling the duvet around her. Unfortunately, Selphie was not taking no for an answer. The small girl walked up to Ultimecia's bed and ripped the duvet off. Ultimecia curled into a ball and rolled over, away from Selphie. Selphie then decided to do the only thing she could think of to wake Ultimecia up. Selphie jumped onto the bed, landing right on top of Ultimecia.

"Ow!" Ultimecia grunted, wide awake and staring at the smiling Selphie, who was sitting on her legs, "Off!" Selphie jumped off and ran back to her room. Ultimecia sat up and massaged her head before getting up and pulling on her uniform. Today was to be her first day as a student of Balamb Garden. Ultimecia stood up and looked at herself in the mirror before walking out of the dormitory and heading for the lifts. Around her, students ran around, going to various areas in a rush. Nobody paid any attention to her. Ultimecia walked up the stairs leading up to the lift. Pressing the call button, Ultimecia turned to look around. Through the front gate, which was closed to students, Ultimecia could see the sky, the clouds passing Garden. The lift beeped as the doors opened. Ultimecia walked into the lift and pressed the button for the second floor. The lift rose up to the balcony, which Ultimecia walked down slowly. Turning right into the corridor, Ultimecia headed to the classroom.

The door slid open, to reveal a near-empty classroom. Ultimecia had arrived seven minutes before the class was due to start. Walking to the back of the room, Ultimecia turned and walked to the study panel in the middle of the back row. Sitting down, Ultimecia noticed a lot of graffiti had been scratched into the wooden surface. Amongst the random scratchings was a single sentence which stuck out to Ultimecia, 'Seifer was here, with his posse'. Ultimecia turned her head toward the study panel. Switching it on, Ultimecia typed in the login information she had been given. Under username, Ultimecia typed in Wolf, I. For the password, Ultimecia typed in smosessnow. The study panel loaded up Balamb's network interface. Browsing the notice board, Ultimecia waded through the usual spam messages, including posts from various Seeds that made fun of the spammers. One post, by Tilmitt, S. read, "Spam is nice – it's tasty and makes a great sandwich filling. However, it isn't so nice when it's filling up this board. So knock it off, m'kay?" Ultimecia looked up as the door opened again and a few more students filed in. Amongst them, Quistis walked into the room and headed for the desk. Sitting down, Quistis typed in her information into her computer before turning to the assembled students.

"Welcome to Sorceress History." Quistis said, casting her eyes around the room. It surprised her slightly to see Ultimecia sat in Seifer's old seat, "As you all know, the entire reason Seed was created was to stand against sorceresses who threatened world security." Leaning back in her chair, Quistis pressed a button on her keyboard. Above her, a projector flashed an image of Adel. "This is one of the most well-known. Sorceress Adel was responsible for the Sorceress War twenty years ago. She was imprisoned by a resistance faction being led by Laguna Loire, the current President of Esthar." Quistis pressed a button again, causing a still image to appear on screen. Unlike the first, this image was slightly blurry, but there was no doubt as to where it had been taken. "This is the most recent, and the information is slightly sketchy, but you should all know this. So, pop quiz. Who is this woman?" Quistis asked.

"That's Edea." One of the students in the front row answered.

"Correct, now can anyone tell me where this picture was taken?"

"Deling City." A female student answered. Quistis nodded before asking the next question.

"And can anyone say why Edea is no longer considered a threat?"

"Because she was possessed." Someone else answered.

"Correct. Edea was possessed by a sorceress from the future. Her name and anything else about her are currently highly classified." Quistis said, before continuing her lecture.

Ultimecia sat at a table on her own, eating some salad. The lecture had been interesting, with Quistis constantly asking them questions. At the end of the lecture, Quistis had given them all a reading list for books in the library and told them that they would have a test tomorrow on what they learnt. Ultimecia finished up her salad and threw the packaging into a bin before heading across to the library. The library wasn't very busy, which meant that Ultimecia had it almost totally to herself. Picking up a few of the books on the reading list, Ultimecia walked to a vacant table and put the books down before rummaging in her pockets to find a notebook and a pen. Flipping open the first book, Ultimecia put her pen to the paper and started writing. It was a full three hours before she was finished. Setting her pen down on the last page she had written on, Ultimecia put the books back on the shelf, then went to fetch her notebook. The only people in the library besides Ultimecia were the librarians. Walking back to her table, Ultimecia noticed the notebook was shut, with the pen on the back, which was not how she had left it. Ultimecia flipped through the notebook until she noticed a page filled with writing that wasn't hers. The page had only four words written on it, 'You can get home'. Ultimecia tore the page out and placed both the page and the notebook in her pocket. Heading out of the library quickly, Ultimecia headed towards the infirmary. Walking towards Rinoa's office, Ultimecia noticed a note pinned to the door, 'Rinoa is unavailable. If urgent, see Doctor Kadowaki. Ultimecia headed into the office. The doctor looked up from her computer monitor and smiled.

"Can I help you?" Doctor Kadowaki asked. Ultimecia nodded slowly.

"I need to see Rinoa." Ultimecia said slowly.

"Is there a reason?" Doctor Kadowaki asked. Again, Ultimecia nodded. Doctor Kadowaki picked up her phone and dialled a number.

"Your name?" Doctor Kadowaki asked, holding the phone to her ear.

"Ivy Wolf." Ultimecia stated.

"Squall, it's the Doctor. Is Rinoa up there?" Doctor Kadowaki said into the phone, "It's Ivy Wolf, she needs to see her." Ultimecia waited. "Okay, thanks Squall." Doctor Kadowaki said, putting the phone down, "She's on the third floor. You have permission to go up there." Ultimecia thanked her before heading quickly back to the lift.

Walking up the stairs, Ultimecia felt like the world was spinning around her. At the top of the stairs, Ultimecia paused, closing her eyes. Opening them, Ultimecia found herself in a darkly lit area with two lifts in front of her, one raised above her and the other at her level. Ultimecia thought she was hallucinating. Walking to the lift on her level, Ultimecia watched as it rose up to the floor above her. When it stopped, Ultimecia walked through another doorway. Above her, the clouds slowly drifted through the clear blue sky. Ultimecia held her hands over her eyes, being blinded by the sunlight.

"Ivy! Can you hear me?" someone shouted. Ultimecia lowered her arm. In front of her, blurred, were the forms of two people, a woman dressed in black and a man. This time, she could pick out a few more details. He was wearing leather trousers and a bomber jacket. "Ivy, wake up!" The woman started to walk towards her. Ultimecia shut her eyes. Opening them again, Ultimecia found herself surrounded by darkness. Reaching out her hand in front of her, Ultimecia felt cold air blowing past her. Moving slowly, Ultimecia felt cold hard stone underneath her. Walking slowly, Ultimecia felt the cold freeze her breath. Stumbling slightly, Ultimecia fell onto her knees. She was alone, and afraid. Raising her head to the heaven's Ultimecia closed her eyes and screamed.

Ultimecia felt a sudden surge of warmth around her. Opening her eyes, she found that she was back in Balamb Garden. Kneeling next to her on the floor, holding her in an embrace, Selphie stroked her hair slowly. Ultimecia glanced around, fearful that this was just another delusion.

"What happened? Irvine saw you stagger up the stairs and collapse at the top. He came to fetch me and when I got back, you were screaming." Selphie said quickly, slowly pulling away from the embrace.

"I-I was..."Ultimecia stuttered. She turned her head to see Irvine and Doctor Kadowaki running towards her.

"Is she alright?" Irvine asked, reaching the pair first. Selphie nodded slowly, before helping Ultimecia onto her feet.

"Did she get injured?" Doctor Kadowaki asked. Selphie turned to Ultimecia for an answer.

"No, I don't think so." Ultimecia stated. Doctor Kadowaki looked her over.

"We'd better get her to the infirmary anyway." Doctor Kadowaki stated. Irvine walked to Ultimecia's right and put her arm around his shoulder. On her left, Selphie did the same. Doctor Kadowaki walked in front of them, through a thin crowd of gaping students as Selphie, Ultimecia and Irvine walked down the stairs and towards the infirmary, the only sounds being Doctor Kadowaki shouting at students to go and gawp at something else and let her through.

Ultimecia walked slowly into the infirmary with Irvine and Selphie's help, the two guiding her to the bed and helping her down onto it. When they had gotten her onto the bed, Irvine left as Doctor Kadowaki entered and proceeded to thoroughly examine Ultimecia. After the Doctor was finished, Rinoa came running into the room, followed slowly by Squall.

"Are you alright?" Rinoa asked, her voice full of panic, "Irvine told me what happened."

"What the hell were you doing screaming in the middle of the Garden?" Squall demanded, being his usual sympathetic self. Rinoa immediately hushed him.

"I. I was koming to your offike." Ultimecia said, recounting her version of what happened, complete with what she had seen. When she had finished, Selphie and Rinoa had looks of concern on their faces, Irvine was busy staring out the window and Squall had his usual pokerface look.

"Did you hit your head or something?" Irvine asked.

"I don't think so." Ultimecia stated.

"Why should we believe any of that?" Squall demanded. Rinoa and Selphie both gave him dirty looks.

"What do they mean?" Ultimecia asked.

"What does what mean?" Rinoa replied, turning back to Ultimecia.

"The man and woman in black." Squall raised his eyebrows at this.

"Describe them." Squall demanded.

"I kouldn't see them very well." Ultimecia said.

"Then say what you could see." Squall said, coldly.

"The woman had long hair and wore a black dress with a jumper on." Ultimecia stated.

"And the man?"

"He had leather trousers, a black leather bomber jacket and black boots."

"Did you recognise either of them?"

"Why does that matter?" Rinoa interrupted.

"It just does." Squall said evasively. Ultimecia shook her head. Squall turned and walked into the corridor.

"Hey, what did you think you were doing?" Rinoa shouted, running out of the infirmary. Squall turned, knowing that she'd just run after him if he attempted to get away. "Why the hell did you just interrogate someone who just came around from being unconscious?" Rinoa fumed.

"Because it might be a sign of her memories coming back." Squall countered.

"Squall, you're being paranoid." Rinoa huffed, "Just because she gets her memories back, doesn't mean she's going to just go homicidal." Squall turned and headed for the lift. Rinoa just watched him walk away.

Ultimecia lay on top of the bed in the infirmary. Doctor Kadowaki had told her everything looked okay, but she was to stay there overnight for observation. Staring up at the ceiling, watching the blinds move in the breeze, Ultimecia drifted off to sleep slowly. Eventually, she was woken up by the sound of a phone ringing. Sitting up on her bed, Ultimecia noticed that the infirmary was in total darkness. Standing up off the bed, Ultimecia walked out of the small cubicle and headed towards the doctor's desk. Looking around, Ultimecia couldn't see any sign of the doctor. Picking up the phone, Ultimecia held it to her ear.

"Hello, who's kalling please?" Ultimecia asked calmly.

"You can get home, if you want to." A man's voice stated. The sound of his voice made Ultimecia's blood freeze.

"Who is this?" Ultimecia asked, slightly panicked.

"You just have to find me. When you do find me, and are ready, you can go home, I promise." The man said before hanging up. Ultimecia listened to the phone beep before replacing it back on it's cradle. As she did so, the computer on the doctor's desk burst into life. Ultimecia walked slowly around the desk, scared of what she would find. The computer screen flickered with static and noise burst from the computer's speakers. Ultimecia reached forward to turn the computer off.

'Kurse all Seeds' spewed out from the speakers loudly. Ultimecia backed up against the wall in shock. The computer screen cleared of static. On the screen was a stone walkway appearing through dark fog. Ultimecia leaned forward and gripped the edges of the desk for support. Out of the dark fog, a figure emerged. It didn't take Ultimecia long to recognise the long silver hair, shaped into horns. The purple and blue tattoo's framing the face. The red eyes. Ultimecia was looking at herself; battered, bruised, bloody and broken. On the screen, Ultimecia staggered slightly before falling down on the stone.

'What have I done to deserve this?' Ultimecia's voice shouted through the speakers, 'Just let me go!' Ultimecia could see that the woman on the screen was shaking. 'Please, just let me die!' The woman lowered her head, her face hidden by the hair which fell down to the ground. 'Why kan't you allow me to die?' The screen flickered back into static before showing a video feed that seemed to come from the screen itself. Staring back at Ultimecia with wide, frightened eyes was her reflection. Ultimecia breathed a sigh of relief. On the screen, her reflection started to bleed from the top of her head, small streams of blood working their way down her face, around her eyes and nose and over her mouth. Ultimecia let go of the desk and backed away as on the monitor, her reflection's eyes rolled back into its head.

Ultimecia shot upright in her bed and screamed. Irvine ran into the room, quickly followed by Selphie. The pair grabbed hold of Ultimecia's shoulders, Irvine staying silent whilst Selphie tried to reassure her. A couple of minutes later, Rinoa ran into the room, having been called by Doctor Kadowaki. Selphie and Irvine walked out of the small room together. Rinoa walked over and leaned against the wall. Ultimecia was sitting up in bed and sipping a glass of water.

"What happened?" Rinoa asked, "Did you have a dream?" Ultimecia nodded. "What exactly happened in the dream?" Ultimecia proceeded to recount her nightmare.

"Why is this happening?" Ultimecia asked.

"I don't know." Rinoa stated. Rinoa looked down at the floor for a moment before pulling out two photographs from a folder she was carrying. "Do you remember telling me about seeing two people in an old building? A man and a woman?" Ultimecia nodded. Rinoa held up the first photograph, a still image from Selphie's recording of the celebration ball after they had returned, "Is this her?" Ultimecia leaned over to get a better look at the photo. It showed Cid holding up a glass. Next to him, holding onto his arm and looking at the camera, was Edea. She was wearing a long black dress and a cardigan over the top.

"I think so." Ultimecia said, softly. Rinoa put the photo back in the folder and held up the second. It was a picture Selphie had taken of Rinoa and Squall, standing on the balcony of the ballroom in an embrace. Squall was wearing his favourite black leather trousers, black bomber jacket and boots.

"And is this the man?" Rinoa asked. Ultimecia's eyes widened.

"It's him." Ultimecia stated, "What does this mean?" Rinoa put the photo back in the folder.

"I don't know. If I did, I'd tell you." Rinoa said. Ultimecia closed her eyes and put her head back on the pillow. Rinoa waited for Ultimecia to fall back to sleep before leaving the room.

_AN: Longest chapter yet on this fic, there's another reference to Metal Gear Solid. Rate and review please._


	9. Chapter 9: Opening Pandora's Box

Rehab

Chapter 9: Opening Pandora's Box

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy VIII, it is owned by Square-Enix.

Squall stood outside the medical bay where Ultimecia had spent the night. Leaning against the wall, he casually studied her, looking for any signs that she could become hostile. Even though it had been over a month since she arrived, Squall still did not completely trust her. Besides him stood Rinoa, who was doing something on her phone.

"These nightmares she had, are they her memories returning?" Squall asked. Rinoa shook her head.

"I don't know for sure, but I think so." Rinoa answered, "At the least, I'd like to take her to be checked out."

"Take her? Where?" Squall asked.

"Doctor Odine. He may know some way of determining exactly what her nightmares are, and what's causing them." Rinoa said. Squall considered her request for a moment before nodding his agreement.

"Take Selphie and Irvine with you in the Ragnarok." Squall stated, turning and walking out of the infirmary.

Ultimecia opened both eyes slowly, blinking to clear her vision. Above her, she could see the round light and the blinds blowing slightly in the breeze from the constantly open window.

"Thought you'd never wake up, sleepy head." Irvine said, leaning against a wall, with his left foot against it, "We're going to Esthar when your ready. Rinoa's taking you to someone who can help." Ultimecia swung her feet over the side of the bed and stared at the wall for a few seconds.

"Who is Rinoa taking me to?" Ultimecia asked quietly.

"Doctor Odine." Irvine stated, "He's a bit kooky, but he knows a hell of a lot." Irvine watched as Ultimecia stood up and started to walk towards the door. "Don't you even want breakfast first?" Irvine asked. Ultimecia shook her head, before walking out of the Infirmary, Irvine following close behind.

Strapping herself into her seat, Ultimecia felt the engines of the Ragnarok starting up. To her right, Rinoa was sat, looking through some papers. Irvine and Selphie were both in the cockpit. Ultimecia stared out the window as the Ragnarok began to rise.

"This, this dokter we are going to see. He kan help me?" Ultimecia asked. Rinoa turned to her before nodding.

"I hope so." Rinoa answered.

"Will he be able to make these dreams go away?"

"That I don't know."

"Is there anyone who kan make them go?" Ultimecia asked. Rinoa remained silent, letting the question hang in the air.

It took Selphie just fifteen minutes to fly to Esthar Airstation, which succeeded in making Rinoa and Ultimecia want to puke when she got close, only to suddenly slam the brakes and start shouting over the tannoy "You stupid twit, you nearly smashed into me!". Somehow, Selphie managed to avoid a mid-air collision and landed. Ultimecia and Rinoa both took their seatbelts off and hurried out of the airship. Selphie and Irvine emerged a couple of minutes later, Selphie still shouting about the lunatic who shot in front of her and nearly smashed into the Ragnarok, using a stream of words that Rinoa would rather Selphie had not shouted right in front of a group of children. The group walked the short distance to Odine's Laboratory. Walking into the reception area, Rinoa took Ultimecia up to the reception desk.

"Do you have an appointment?" A rather dour looking secretary asked.

"Yes, it's under the name Ivy Wolf." Rinoa answered, holding Ultimecia's arm. The secretary typed the name into her computer.

"Go right through." The secretary answered in a bored tone. Rinoa led Ultimecia through the corridors into a room. Sitting at a desk with many strange instruments on his desk was Doctor Odine.

"Good afternoon, Miss Heartilly." Odine greeted in his heavy accident, "And who iz this?"

"Doctor Odine, is this going to be kept confidential?" Rinoa asked, closing the door.

"Of course."

"Even from President Loire?" Odine stiffed slightly at the mention of Esthar's president.

"Why?"

"What I'm about to reveal is classified information." Rinoa answered, "This is Ivy Wolf." Rinoa gestured at Ultimecia, who had taken to staring out the window at the city below them. "Her real name is Ultimecia." Odine dropped his pen at this and stared more closely at Ultimecia.

"Do you mean ze Ultimecia? Ze Sorceress Ultimecia from ze future?" Odine asked, slightly frightened.

"You can calm down, Doctor. She hasn't any powers now. She appeared a few months ago in Balamb Garden, with no idea who she was." Rinoa stated, "She's been having some disturbing dreams as of late, and I was hoping you could help us." Rinoa dumped a file in front of Odine, "But this must remain confidential." Odine considered a moment before agreeing.

"How long have ze dreams been occuring?" Odine asked, holding a clipboard.

"They started a few days ago." Ultimecia answered.

"Always ze same dream?"

"No, they okkasionally alter."

"Do zhey alter a lot?"

"No." Odine put down his clipboard as Ultimecia answered and turned to Rinoa.

"We may be able to help." Odine answered, "We have a machine here which can scan brainwaves. It's a modified form of ze Junction Machine Ellone. Using zhis machine and zome drugs, we should be able to zee what Ultimecia iz dreaming."

"Is there any risks?" Rinoa asked.

"Of course zhere are risks." Odine answered, "But zhey are minimal. The only important thing iz zhat Ultimecia does not resist the treatment."

"Why should I resist?" Ultimecia asked. Odine leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers.

"Because, what we will be doing will involve bringing your nightmares to the surface. Naturally, it might scare you. Even though we will be in total control." Odine stated, slowly.

"I'll do whatever it takes." Ultimecia said.

Odine walked the two women into another room, which contained numerous pieces of equipment, the most prominent being a bed in the centre of the room. Sitting down on it, Ultimecia watched as Odine placed some sort of medical equipment on her head and tinkered with his computer.

"Lie down please." Odine commanded. Ultimecia did as she was told. Rinoa walked over to the computer so that she could see the screen. Odine started the machine. On the screen, Rinoa saw the view of the ceiling that Ultimecia was staring at.

"Now for ze next phase." Odine stated, walking over and giving Ultimecia some kind of sleeping medication. Rinoa watched as the screen faded to black. Odine put the empty syringe in the bin and sat down next to her. On the screen, Rinoa watched as white light flooded the screen.

_It was the same nightmare. Ultimecia watched as she found herself staring at the two people in a bright place. The man staring at her with a sword unsheathed. The woman turning towards her in a black dress. The woman walked towards her before stopping. Ultimecia felt herself rise into the air, her arms stretching out wide. It felt like she was dying. Then she dropped to the floor and felt her eyes grow heavy._

Rinoa gasped as the screen faded to black. There was no mistaking the people she'd seen, even though it was like looking through a dirty broken glass. The man was definitely Squall. Rinoa guessed the woman was Edea. Rinoa wrote a quick note down in her notepad to ask Squall about this next time she saw him. Odine stood up and walked over to Ultimecia, holding another syringe. The screen burst to life once more.

_Ultimecia ran as fast as she could across the bridge. Hurtling through the door, Ultimecia floated up to her throne. A few minutes later, the doors burst open and six people ran into the room. Ultimecia leaned back in her chair._

Rinoa gasped as she saw herself appear on the screen.

"Is this her memory?" Rinoa asked. Odine nodded. Rinoa watched as the battle began. She had been the first to act, firing her weapon at Ultimecia. The projectile flew through the air and connected with Ultimecia's head, giving her a mighty whack. Rinoa flinched as the screen flickered as the weapon made contact. Squall followed with a quick swing of his gunblade. Once again, the screen flickered as he made contact, smacking Ultimecia's head with the blade. Rinoa quickly started to piece together what had happened. Each time an attack happened, the attack seemed to hit Ultimecia's head. After the battle was over, the earlier dream repeated itself. Now Rinoa understood why the visuals were so fuzzy. Ultimecia had barely been able to open her eyes properly.

_Ultimecia found herself standing on a bridge in the middle of nowhere. All around her thick fog draped itself around. Ultimecia held her arms tight together. The breath forcing itself out of her body was ice cold. Ultimecia felt dizzy, her head spinning. Ahead of her, a bright light started shining. Ultimecia covered her eyes before staggering slowly towards the light. When she reached it, Ultimecia walked straight into the light._

The next thing Rinoa saw on the screen was a very familiar sight. Balamb Garden's canteen. The screen swung around to show Irvine and Squall approaching. Ultimecia's first day. Rinoa now had everything she needed.

"Is there a phone I can use?" Rinoa asked. Odine pointed out a phone on the desk and went to give Ultimecia the medicine needed for her to wake up. Rinoa dialled Squall's office number. The line beeped three times before Squall picked up.

"Squall, I know what's wrong with Ultimecia." Rinoa blurted quickly, "She's been suffering amnesia. That and I don't now how but she went into the past. She gave Edea her powers. Squall, she saw you there." Rinoa was on the verge of shouting.

"Rinoa, how?" Squall asked.

"Squall, she's been suffering amnesia because of the battle. All of our attacks hit her either in the head or the torso. That kind of injury can lead to retrograde amnesia. Those nightmares she's been having aren't nightmares, they're her memories. What's left of them." As Rinoa spoke ever more quickly down the phone, Ultimecia started to wake up.

"Rinoa. Think carefully now. Is there any risk Ultimecia may pose? Any threat at all?" In front of her, Ultimecia sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"I don't know." Rinoa answered, hanging up the phone. Ultimecia turned to her with a look of horror on her face.

"No!" Ultimecia screamed, jumping up and running out of the room. Rinoa took off after her, in time to see Ultimecia barrel straight past Selphie and Irvine and out of the lab.

"What's up with her?" Selphie asked.

"She's recovered her memories." Rinoa answered. Selphie and Irvine stared at her in shock.

"You mean?" Irvine started.

"She knows." Selphie finished for him. Rinoa nodded slowly.

"Should we track her down?" Irvine asked. Rinoa shook her head. Odine walked out from behind the reception area.

"I've just rezeived a message that Mizz Wolf has just boarded the Ragnarok." Odine stated before walking back to his office.

"What should we do?" Selphie asked quietly.

"We go back to Garden." Rinoa answered, "Hopefully, everything can be straightened out there."

_AN: Really sorry for how long it's been since the last update. Had to find out what Odine's accent was like, and since there is no hard and fast rule like with Ultimecia's, I've probably messed it up anyway. Rate and review, please._


	10. Chapter 10: Who Am I?

Rehab

Chapter 10: Who Am I?

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy VIII, it is owned by Square-Enix.

The mood onboard the Ragnarok on the flight back to the Garden was sombre. Ultimecia had managed to barricade herself into the airlock, refusing to come out. After Selphie had assured Rinoa that they could fly back with Ultimecia in the airlock without Ultimecia getting injured, they had taken off, Rinoa sitting on her own whilst Selphie and Irvine went to the cockpit. None of them had any idea how they were going to persuade Ultimecia to come out when they got to Garden. Rinoa hoped Squall wouldn't just run onto the ship with a platoon of Seeds and open fire on the airlock. Just because Ultimecia had her memories back, it didn't change the fact that she was a much different person now than she had been when they had fought her. The lack of powers was one thing, but Rinoa was sure that Ultimecia had been slowly adjusting to life in their time before she'd gotten over her amnesia.

When they landed back in Garden, Squall and Xu were waiting for them. From their expressions, they were anything less than happy. Being told that your former enemy had gotten her memories back and locked herself in an airlock wasn't going to make Squall happy.

"Where is she?" Squall growled as Selphie and Irvine left the ship.

"Airlock." Rinoa answered. Squall and Xu marched onto the ship and headed straight for the airlock. Apart from the platoon of Seeds, this was exactly what Rinoa hadn't wanted. Squall banged on the airlock door.

"Ultimecia, open up!" Squall shouted.

"Go away!" Ultimecia shouted back.

"Come on, just open the door!" Xu barked, trying to force the lock, "How long can she stay in there anyway."

"Fine, you win. We're going away!" Squall shouted.

"What are you doing, commander?" Xu asked.

"We leave her alone on the ship, have some Seeds guarding the entrance to the hangar. When she realises she needs food or a bathroom break, she'll come out." Squall stated.

"But, the Ragnarok contains both plumbing and supplies." Xu countered.

"So, take the food off the ship and jam the toilet locks." Squall marched off the ship. Rinoa ran after him.

"Squall, please don't do this!" Rinoa pleaded.

"Why not? That bitch has pretty much betrayed us!" Squall shouted, "We've given her everything, we should have just shot her on sight!" Rinoa put her arm around Squall's neck.

"Squall, she's scared." Rinoa stated, "Just leave her alone so she can calm down." Squall huffed and walked away, back to his office. Rinoa took one last look at the Ragnarok before walking back to her own office.

Rinoa plowed throught the mountain of paperwork that had managed to appear on her desk while she'd been out, trying to push the thought of Ultimecia being on her own out of her mind. If she had her way, she'd still be on the ship, at least talking to Ultimecia. Instead, Squall had ordered everyone else off and had guards stationed on the hangar exit so when Ultimecia got out she'd be captured. Finishing off one piece of paperwork, Rinoa put it in her desk drawer as a siren sounded. Rinoa dropped what she was doing and ran out of her office. Running into the central hall, she watched as Quistis and Squall ran out of the lift and down the stairs.

"What's going on?" Rinoa asked.

"She's broken loose and into the training centre!" Squall shouted without stopping, "The bitch got past those useless Seeds."

"Ivy slipped through the guards wearing a maintenance uniform and went to the armory. She signed out a PSG-1 in Selphie's name, even faking her signiture before walking into the Training Centre and tripping the alarm." Quistis explained as they rounded the corner and ran into the Training Centre. In front of them, both sets of doors were shut. Xu was already there with a maintenance crew.

"Ivy's jammed the doors." Xu explained, "We're not going to be able to get in there." Squall sighed and pulled out a loudspeaker.

"Ivy! Open the doors!" Squall shouted. Over the tannoy, Ultimecia replied.

"Get lost! You're trying to kill me again. Why kan't you just leave me alone?" Ultimecia shouted back.

"Get this lot out of here." Squall commanded. Xu nodded before ordering the maintenance team to stand down. They left Squall, Quistis and Rinoa as Selphie, Irvine and Zell ran in.

"I've set everything up Squall. We just need a few minutes." Zell stated.

"What have you set up?" Rinoa asked, suspicious of Squall's actions. Squall brushed her off.

"Ultimecia, we're not here to harm you. You're under arrest. Open the doors and get out here and I promise no one will harm you." Squall stated through the loudspeaker.

"Liar! You just want a klean shot for your sniper." Ultimecia cried. Rinoa snatched the loudspeaker from Squall before he could respond.

"Ultimecia, I know you're probably upset right now, but this isn't the way to express it." Rinoa said into the loudspeaker.

Fifteen minutes later, and there was still no way they could get in. Squall sent an order for Xu to turn on the tannoy mike in his office. Ultimecia hadn't responded in a while, but there was no reason to think she had been injured.

"How are we going to get her out?" Selphie asked.

"Ultimecia, can you hear me?" Edea's voice rang out over the tannoy. Rinoa's eyes widened as she realised this was Squall's plan.

"Matron?" Ultimecia replied, "I'm skared." Quistis mouthed the word 'matron' to Squall, who shrugged.

"Ulti, there's nothing to be afraid of." Edea said. It was hard to be reassuring through a microphone.

"They're here to kill me." Ultimecia whined.

"No one is going to kill you." Edea stated, "Trust me."

"I deserve to die." Ultimecia stated, "I don't deserve to live."

"Wrong!" Cid interrupted over the tannoy, "Nobody deserves to die."

"I'm konfused!" Ultimecia whined, "Where's Sephie?" Squall turned to look at Selphie before snatching the loudspeaker off Rinoa and handing it to Selphie.

"Ulti, I'm here." Selphie shouted into the loudspeaker.

"Help me." Ultimecia begged. The doors on the right side of the training centre slid open.

"Where are you?" Selphie shouted into the loudspeaker. The tannoy went dead. From within the training centre, they heard gunshots.

Running into the Training Centre, over the metal grates, Rinoa and Selphie were the first to notice the T-Rexaur. Irvine raised his rifle and fired at the monster's head. In front of the T-Rexaur, Rinoa noticed Ultimecia backing away from the beast and firing at his head with the gun. Selphie and Zell ran out in front of the T-Rexaur just as Ultimecia backed up to the edge of the rock. Behind her was a pool of water. Irvine ran over and threw Ultimecia some ammo.

"I don't know how to reload!" Ultimecia shouted. Irvine fired at the T-Rexaur.

"Then throw the ammo back and we'll swap guns!" Irvine shouted as Rinoa cast a sleep spell at the monster. Quistis jumped in and used degenerator on it, ending the battle quickly. The Seeds panted slightly, getting their breath back after the battle. Ultimecia took that opportunity to bolt for the exit, dropping both the gun she had taken and the ammunition Irvine had thrown to her. Squall stood outside the doors as Ultimecia ran past him, slightly surprised that he made no move to stop her. Ultimecia ran towards the corridor as Edea and Cid approached from the other end. Slowing down, Ultimecia stood staring at the two, her vision blurring slightly.

"Edea? Is that you?" Ultimecia asked. Behind her, Rinoa walked from the Training Centre to see what was happening. "Have you kome to finish me off?" Edea shook her head before walking up to Ultimecia. Ultimecia started shaking. "Please don't kill me, please don't kill me, please don't kill me." Ultimecia cried, repeating the phrase over and over again, getting quicker each time. Edea stood next to the scared former sorceress. All of a sudden, Ultimecia's legs gave way under her and she fell into Edea. Edea grabbed her in an embrace as Ultimecia started sobbing on her shoulder.

Rinoa stood outside in the corridor leading to the Infirmary with Squall. Selphie, Quistis and Edea were with Ultimecia, who had been taken to the Infirmary for her own safety. It was quite clear to Rinoa that what had happened to Ultimecia was a direct result of regaining her memories. Squall hadn't said a word since they'd left the Training Centre. Edea walked out on her own.

"How is she?" Rinoa asked.

"Kadowaki gave her some tablets to make her fall asleep." Edea stated, "She's still shaken, but given time, she might get over it." Squall laughed hollowly.

"What's funny?" Rinoa asked, snapping suddenly.

"Time. It will not wait." Squall chuckled, "That's what she said. And ever since she arrived, all we've given her is time. Maybe it's time to stop her for good."

"SQUALL!" Rinoa shouted, "How can you be so unfeeling? What did you see earlier? Did you see some depraved monster staggering around or did you see a scared, desperate woman, taken from everything she's known and thrown quite literally into her enemies arms. Because I'm starting to wonder what is going through your head!" Squall glared at her.

"Considering that woman once invaded yours, I'd have thought you would know." Squall stated, coldly. Rinoa clenched her fists in anger.

"Squall, she needs support." Edea stated, "Everyone does."

"Not everyone." Squall stated.

"Oh really?" Edea asked, "Then maybe this'll change your mind." Edea folded her arms before staring straight at Squall. "Sis. I'm all alone. But I'm doing my best." Squall's eyes widened.

"What?"

"Squall, Ultimecia is alone in the world. If people knew who she really was, there'd be no way to protect her. Not even you could stop the lynch mobs from walking in here and stringing her up. Until yesterday, she didn't even know that would happen. She barely even knew who she was. Bu now she knows. Can you actually blame her for being scared?" Squall opened his mouth to argue but Edea cut him off, "She's confused. On one hand, she knows she is not the same person who nearly destroyed the world with Time Compression anymore. On the other, she thinks you are still after her to complete your mission." Edea and Rinoa turned as Doctor Kadowaki stood in the open doorway of the Infirmary.

"She's asked to see you, Squall." Doctor Kadowaki said before walking away. Squall walked past Edea and Rinoa and into the Infirmary.

Squall walked into the small room that Ultimecia had been put in. Selphie and Quistis had waked out as he came in. It was just him and Ultimecia. She was lying under the covers, with her head propped up on some pillows. As Squall stood by the wall and leaned against it, her head turned and her eyes opened so she could see him.

"I was told you asked for me." Squall stated, matter-of-factly, "What do you want?"

"Kan...Kan I join Seed?" Ultimecia asked quietly. Squall stared at her, trying to find some sign that she was not serious. There was none.

"Why?" Squall countered.

"Why not? What else is there for me to do?" Squall sat down at a chair that had been left in the room.

"Seed were set up to fight sorceresses. Specifically, you. From what we saw at your castle, you killed a lot of Seeds in the future so why would you want to join?"

"I. I want to atone. For what I've done. For what I will do in your future." Ultimecia sighed, speaking so softly Squall could barely hear her. "I know I don't deserve to live. Nor do I deserve your trust." Squall could barely believe his ears. The woman who had nearly drowned the world in her anger and hatred for humanity, pleading with him to help her make up for her past. Ellone had filled them in after their mission on what had been going through Ultimecia's mind for the brief moments Ellone had been able to see as she sent Ultimecia's consciousness to the past. Yet there she was, in front of him, shaking like a leaf. Squall sighed.

"Alright, I'll give you a shot. I'll put you on the courses that'll ensure you get to the Seed written and field tests quickly, but on one condition." Ultimecia cocked her head slightly. "From now on, you have to report to my office every day, in addition to your appointments with Rinoa. Every day, I'm going to evaluate you psychologically. The first time you fail is the time I kick you right back out of all the courses and send you straight back to the orphanage. Are we clear?" Ultimecia nodded her head slowly, before closing her eyes and falling asleep. Squall stood up and started to walk to his office, hoping he had not just made the worst decision of his life.

_AN: Wow, ten chapters? And we're still not over halfway through where I want to take the story. I'm also going to apologise right now if I've managed to make Ultimecia even more OOC than she has been in the previous chapters. They had the excuse of her suffering amnesia._


	11. Chapter 11: Ivy's Decision

Rehab

Chapter 11: Ivy's Decision

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy, it is the property of Square-Enix

Quistis stormed down the corridor towards Squall's office, smashing the door open and striding straight up to Squall's desk, slamming her hands down on it hard enough to cause small objects on the desks surface to bounce.

"Why exactly have you taken Ultimecia out of all of her classes?" Quistis asked, snarling.

"She needs extra tuition." Squall responded, continuing to type on his computer.

"So taking her out of class is helping that?" Quistis asked, "She's still been entered for the written test and the field test. She needs to attend class." Squall looked up at her. Quistis was quite clearly annoyed.

"She's going to get intensive training from us. That way, she gets what she wants – a chance at becoming a Seed and I get what I want, for her to be closely monitored." Squall stated. Quistis stared at him.

"And exactly when are you going to let the rest of us know exactly which weapon she's specialising in?" Quistis asked.

"I'm having Irvine give her gun training. Selphie is going to teach Ultimecia intelligence-gathering. Zell's going to teach CQC, Rinoa's going to give her the basics of battle psychology." Squall said, leaning back in his chair.

"And what are you and I giving her?"

"You're teaching her history and logic." Squall stated.

"And you?"

"I'm teaching her battle tactics." Quistis raised her eyebrow at this.

Ultimecia sat at her desk in her dorm room, looking through a tonne of emails and documents that had been emailed to her. Selphie had sent her half a dozen pictures of small animals for some odd reason. Thinking it might be needed sometime in the future, Ultimecia archived the photos onto a disc. Next were some instruction manuals from Irvine for the guns she was going to be training to use. For some reason, Squall had asked that she learn how to use a handgun, a shotgun and a sniper rifle. So, Irvine had picked out some for her and left them in her room; a M1911A1 complete with a silencer, a M37 and a PSG-1. For some reason, the PSG-1 had been engraved. Along the barrel, someone had carved a design that made it look like it had ivy trailed around it. On the butt of the gun, a carving of a wolf was placed. Ultimecia trailed her fingers over the ivy pattern, smiling.

"Like it?" Selphie asked. Ultimecia turned, nearly dropping the gun on her foot. Selphie was leaning against her doorway. "I had Zell get it engraved. We all thought you'd like it."

"Like. Like a gift?" Ultimecia asked, uncertain.

"Yeah, I guess you could call it that." Selphie said, "Irvine's busy today, but tomorrow, he's going to take you on a training mission in Trabia so you can get used to using that gun." Ultimecia's eyes beamed in delight at the news.

Squall sat in his office, going through the armoury log book. According to the rules, anybody checking weapons into or out of the armoury had to scan their student card and then input their signiture on a touchscreen. A security camera stationed above the terminal used to do this recorded people's faces, so if someone else used another person's card, they'd be spotted. Starting from yesterday, Squall worked the video back. He'd filtered the video feed to show anyone signing out guns. The first student he saw was Ultimecia, wearing a cap to cover her eyes swiping Selphie's card and signing out a PSG-1. Next was Selphie signing out Exeter. Then, some other students signing out Exeter and a PSG-1. Then Selphie again, signing out both her Morning Star and Exeter. Then, Selphie signing the weapons out again, whilst chatting with Irvine, who was leaning against the wall. Which was strange, because the system was set up so students and staff could only sign out weapons they were allocated. To his knowledge, Squall couldn't remember Selphie being authorised for firearm training, so she shouldn't have been able to sign out any guns. Which would have kept Ultimecia from getting it the previous day. Until Squall noticed Irvine swipe Selphie's card, following it with an administrator card. Pressing a couple of items on the screen, Irvine then got Selphie to sign for it before getting Exeter. Squall looked over the database for the corresponding admin entry. It read 'Tilmett, S. Weapon Authorisations: Nunchaku, Firearms.'. The previous entry, before Irvine had tampered with it did not include firearms authorisation. Squall exhaled slowly. Irvine had tampered with the system so that someone else could sign out his gun for him, unknowingly causing yesterday's madness in the Training Centre. Squall stood up, preparing to hunt Irvine down.

Selphie sat with Ultimecia and Irvine in the canteen, having spent the last hour trying to separate Ultimecia from her computer and her new weapons. At first, the former sorceress had wanted to stay in her room to study, then it became she didn't want to run into Squall, then it became she was on a diet, followed by a load of excuses Selphie hadn't listened to as she dragged her friend out of the dorm rooms. Which was how Selphie knew Squall had walked in when Ultimecia's face paled and she tried to slide further down in her chair to avoid his gaze.

"Irvine." Squall said, walking over to their table, "Why did you change Selphie's weapon authorisation to include guns?"

"Huh?" Irvine asked, confused.

"You heard." Squall stated, "You do remember the rule about how only garden admin staff can alter weapon permissions?"

"Err, there's a rule about that?"

"Yes there is, and for breaking it, you have to teach the junior classmen algebra this afternoon."

"I can't, I'm, err, I'm showing Ivy how to use a gun." Irvine quickly said, giving Ultimecia a pleading look, "Right, Ivy?" Ultimecia nodded. Squall looked from Irvine to Ultimecia, then back to Irvine again.

"Fine, but you do teach the junior classmen tomorrow. Got it?" Irvine nodded. Squall turned and walked off.

After they'd eaten, Ultimecia went to fetch her guns and then went to the Ragnarok with Irvine and Selphie. Since the Training Centre was still out of comission, they'd be taking a trip to Balamb first, then Trabia. When the Ragnarok touched down in Balamb, Selphie stayed on the ship whilst Irvine and Ultimecia went with their rifles for training.

"When using a rifle, you should either crouch or lie down. Don't try to shoot whilst standing, your aim will be thrown off." Irvine explained, "And try to keep the scope covered as long as possible, it reflects light, giving your target an obvious warning to your prescence." Irvine and Ultimecia walked into the forest and sat on a a couple of boulders. Ultimecia crouched down and held the rifle out, using her knee to prop the gun up. "Always aim the gun either down or straight ahead, never up." Irvine stated as Ultimecia flipped the lens caps off.

"What should I shoot?" Ultimecia asked. Irvine took out the scope from his own gun.

"See the T-Rexaur in the clearing?" Irvine asked. Ultimecia nodded. "Aim for his head." Ultimecia adjusted the gun so the scope was focused on the T-Rexaur's head. She moved her hand down by the laser sight.

"Don't use the laser, it alerts your target and others." Irvine warned. Ultimecia replaced her hand on the barrel. "Have you got the T-Rex in your sight?"

"Yes."

"Slow your breathing down, it'll help steady the rifle." Irvine instructed, "Watch your target's movements. Follow them. Try to predict their next move. Put your finger on the trigger. As you breathe out, squeeze the trigger." Ultimecia followed Irvine's instructions and fired. From his own scope, Irvine watched the bullet hole appear in the T-Rexaur's forehead and the beast fall to the floor, lifeless. "Well done, you got him right between the eyes." Irvine stated, standing up, "You're a natural." Ultimecia stood up and brushed some of the dirt off her uniform before picking up her rifle. "We should get back to the Ragnarok now." Irvine stated, leading the way, "Selphie will want to hear about this."

Selphie sat in the cockpit of the Ragnarok with her feet up, relaxing. Behind her, the lift rose, bringing Irvine and Ultimecia into the room. Selphie spun around in her chair.

"How'd it go?" Selphie asked, smiling.

"She's a natural sniper. She just took out a T-Rexaur on her first try. Shot it right between the eyes." Irvine stated, sitting down. Selphie stared at Ultimecia.

"You didn't."

"I did."

"Wow, I only fought a T-Rexaur after I joined Seed." Selphie stated, swinging her chair back towards the controls. Ultimecia sat down and held onto her rifle. The Ragnarok took off and Selphie set the auto-pilot for Trabia Garden.

"So, how are you feeling?" Irvine asked.

"About?" Ultimecia responded.

"Your first time using that rifle."

"It felt...good." Irvine smiled. "Is there any way to stop the skope shaking as much?" Irvine leaned back in his chair.

"Well, some people listen to classical music to relax their muscles right before they shoot," Irvine said, "Others use muscle relaxants like Diazepam, some suck ice cubes..."

"Which one do you use?" Ultimecia asked.

"Me? I use the ice cube method most of the time." Irvine answered, "When I bother to at all." Selphie got up from her seat and walked over to a box near the lift. Pulling out something from it, Selphie threw it at Ultimecia.

"What's this?" Ultimecia asked.

"A jacket, you're going to need it or you'll freeze out in Trabia." Selphie stated, sitting back in her seat. Ultimecia held the jacket in her arms. On the shoulders of the jacket, an emblem had been stitched on which Ultimecia didn't recognise, a fox holding a knife in its teeth. Slipping the jacket on and zipping it up, Ultimecia noticed it was a good fit on her.

The Ragnarok landed outside Trabia Garden. The building had long since been abandoned. After Galbadia Garden had been rebuilt and Esthar donated an old warship to be used as a mobile garden, it hadn't seemed necessary to have a fourth garden. The students and faculty had been split between Galbadia, Balamb and the ship, christened the Esthar Star. As a result, Trabia Garden had been left the way it was for posterity. Selphie ran into the grounds, telling Irvine and Ultimecia to meet her back at the Ragnarok in a couple of hours. Irvine and Ultimecia walked out to an area where the Mesmerise's where grazing. Irvine went through a drill with Ultimecia again, only this time she had to shoot three Mesmerise's in six seconds. Irvine would start the timer the moment Ultimecia fired the first shot. Ultimecia lay in the snow, holding the rifle out in front of her. Steadying her aim, she aimed for the first Mesmerise, fired then immediately took out two more. After the other Mesmerise's had run off, scared by the sound of gunfire, Irvine went to check the corpses.

"Three headshots." Irvine announced, "Well done." As Irvine started to walk back, he noticed a wounded deer lying in the snow. Calling Ultimecia over, the two walked up to the fallen animal. It had a nasty bite wound in its back, but it was still conscious, staring up at them with scared eyes. It was clearly in pain.

"What should we do?" Ultimecia asked, tears coming to her eyes.

"There's nothing we can do, this one's dying." Irvine stated, kneeling down. Ultimecia nodded, before walking out of the deer's sight and kneeling in the snow. Irvine noticed Ultimecia raise her rifle and walked out of the the shot. Ultimecia fired once. Irvine watched as the life faded out of the deer's eyes. Irvine reached out and slowly pushed the deer's eyelids shut. Ultimecia walked over and held her rifle.

"Did I do the right thing?" Ultimecia asked, tears starting to flow down her cheeks.

"There was nothing else that could be done." Irvine stated, standing up, "We'd better get back to the Ragnarok." Irvine held out a handkerchief. Ultimecia took it and dried her eyes out before covering the deer's body with snow. After she was finished, the two walked back to the Ragnarok.

_AN: And yet more references to Metal Gear Solid and a reference to Batman. Though I did find it amusing when a reviewer speculated that the person who gave Ultimecia the PSG-1 in the last chapter was Colonel Campbell. "You got a PSG-1? You can use that against Squall. Hurry up and save Meryl. I need scissors! 61!" I even snuck a reference in for Metal Gear Solid earlier. Ultimecia's password: shmosessnow is short for Shadow Moses Snowfield. The one's in this chapter are: Ultimecia's rifle engravings are symbolic of both Poison Ivy and Sniper Wolf. Irvine mentioning snipers using Diazepam, the drug Sniper Wolf is known to use. Ultimecia's jacket also bears the FOXHOUND logo on the sleeves, just like Wolf's and she's using it in a snowy location, Trabia. Ultimecia's mercy kill of a deer also has echoes of Metal Gear Solid. Also, there's a shoutout to the film Leon or as its known in some places, The Professional. In it, there's a scene in which he titular character, an assassin teaches his apprentice how to use a rifle. Although it's not word for word or paraphrased (thus meaning I don't have to use a disclaimer) Irvine's advice was inspired by Leon's. Anyways, hope that wasn't too much of a downer ending for this chapter, please review._


	12. Chapter 12: Listening To Selphie Is Not

Rehab

Chapter 12: Listening To Selphie Is Not A Good Idea

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy, it is the property of Square-Enix

Ultimecia woke up to the sound of a handheld horn being blasted into her ear. Jumping up and away from the loud noise, Ultimecia noticed Selphie standing over her bed grinning madly.

"Selphie, what the hell?" Ultimecia yawned, "It's five o'klokk."

"Yep, time for your training mission!" Selphie squealed, "You've got to go to Squall's office and take my student record without being discovered before six o'clock." Selphie ran out of the door, without giving Ultimecia the slightest hint of how to accomplish this.

'Squall's office is keykard lokked...but Rinoa's keykard is kleared for entry!' Ultimecia thought to herself, 'And she's always losing hers so she keeps a spare hidden in Doctor Kadowaki's desk!' Ultimecia ran out of her dorm room and into the central hall. Only one other person was there, some lone student leaning too close to the rail. Ultimecia charged and deliberately knocked the poor student into the fountain before running into the infirmary.

"Doktor Kadowaki, some poor boy just fell into the fountain!" Ultimecia shouted. Doctor Kadowaki swore under her breath before running out the infirmary. As soon as she was out of the room, Ultimecia pulled open the doctor's desk drawer and grabbed Rinoa's spare keycard. Walking quickly back to the central hall, Ultimecia ran to the lift quickly. Swiping Rinoa's card in the reader, Ultimecia punched the button for the third floor. The lift quickly rose up. When the doors opened, Ultimecia ran into the office and immediately found the file cabinet with a drawer labelled 'T'. Pulling out Selphie's file, Ultimecia ran back out, closing both file cabinet and door behind her. Running for the lift, Ultimecia went back down to the first floor and ran as fast as she could back to her dorm room. Running in, she watched as Selphie pressed a button on a stopwatch.

"Fifteen minutes, impressive." Selphie stated, taking the folder from Ultimecia, "You can have a rest before your next training mission." Selphie said, walking into her room whilst pulling a lighter out of her pocket. Ultimecia shrugged before heading back into her own room.

A couple of minutes later, Ultimecia could smell burning so she stuck her head into Selphie's room, where the petite girl was busy setting fire to something in her waste paper bin.

"Your next mission is to dump a bucket of ice cold water on Squall's head without him discovering it was you. You get extra credit if you can frame someone else for doing it." Selphie muttered over her shoulder. Ultimecia left the dorm room again and went to the second floor balcony. Ultimecia waited until a random male student was walking across on his own.

"Um, exkuse me. I need some help." Ultimecia asked, watching as the student took his eyes off the floor and to her face.

"Er, sure, miss?" The student said nervously.

"Ivy." Ultimecia answered, using her alias instead of her own name, "I need to see if you find that fire bukket over there heavy."

"Why?" The student asked curiously.

"It's for skienke" Ultimecia answered. The student shrugged before fetching the fire bucket. As he carried it back, Ultimecia looked down below. Squall was jogging around the circumference of the central hall, which meant if she timed this right, she could get him. "Kould you put the bukket up here please?" Ultimecia asked, smiling at the student did so. Ultimecia watched as below her, Squall ran under the balcony. Smacking the bucket over, Ultimecia watched as it landed right on Squall's head before running for the toilets on the second floor, leaving the student to gape in horror over the landing until Squall took the bucket off his head and saw the student before running to the lift, dripping water all over the floor.

From where she was sitting in the girl's toilets, Ultimecia heard Squall shout at the student before walking away to his office, presumably to assign the student to a tough mission as revenge. Ultimecia smirked before walking out of the toilets and to the lift. Making her way back to her dorm room and hoping that Selphie wouldn't just assign her yet another mission. The thought that Selphie was just using her to pull pranks had occurred to her. Walking through the corridors to her dormitory room, Ultimecia pulled out her keycard and walked into her room. Selphie was waiting for her with a folder.

"Well done, here's your next mission." Selphie said, holding out the folder for Ultimecia to take.

"How many more?" Ultimecia whined.

"This is your last for today." Selphie stated, pushing the folder into Ultimecia's grasp and pushing her out of the door. Ultimecia leaned against the door and opened the folder. Inside was a sheet of paper and a cd-rom. The paper just read 'Stick this in Quistis' computer before class then stay there to ensure disc runs. You have permission.' Ultimecia shrugged before heading to the second floor once more.

Walking into the deserted classroom, Ultimecia made a beeline for Quistis' computer. Sticking the disc into the computer, Ultimecia walked back to her old terminal quickly as students started to walk in. Signing into her terminal, Ultimecia barely noticed as Quistis walked in and loaded up her own machine.

"Today class, we will be talking abo- WHAT'S SO FUNNY?" Quistis shouted suddenly as the class burst into laughter. Looking up, Ultimecia could see why. The projector that showed Quistis' computer was showing a security photo of Quistis and Squall together. And it was clear from the photo that whilst Quistis had been talking, Squall hadn't been listening. Quistis looked up to the screen above her and then started bashing away at her keyboard to try to get rid of the image. All that happened was a different image came on. Quistis asleep in the cafeteria with salad in her hair. This only caused the students to laugh louder, even Ultimecia had a smirk on her lips. The image was quickly replaced by another, which was enough to make Quistis stop, for fear of putting anything else more embarrassing on the screen. Although there were few things more embarrassing that being shown asleep surrounded by plush toys. Quistis looked around the room, desperately trying to find the culprit. As soon as Quistis saw Ultimecia sitting in the back row, she screamed at her to get to Leonhart's office before leaving the class after shutting her computer off.

Squall sat behind his desk, looking at the two women in front of him. Selphie was desperately trying to avoid his gaze and Ultimecia was staring at her shoes. It hadn't taken long for Squall to find the security footage confirming the fact that Selphie had been behind all of the pranks today, even if it was Ultimecia carrying them out. Having found the remains of Selphie's disciplinary record in her bin, burnt to a crisp, Squall had decided on the best course of action.

"The pair of you will be assisting the janitors in cleaning the girl's toilets on the second floor tonight. In addition, Selphie you are going to apologise to Quistis in front of her class and Ivy is going to be cleaning the second floor balcony with a toothbrush." Squall decreed, causing both women to groan. "Do you want me to add to those punishments?" Squall asked, causing both women to shake their heads. "Good, Ivy can go back to her room. Selphie, you stay there." As Ultimecia left the office, Selphie glanced quickly at Squall's face. He wasn't smiling.

"I want to talk to you about appropriate training missions." Squall began. Selphie sighed, this was going to be a long talk.

That night, Selphie and Ultimecia warily made their way to the second floor toilets. Squall had given Selphie an hour lecture on why training missions were not supposed to be pranks, which meant that the cafeteria had shut by the time she had made it out of Squall's office. The pair of them were wearing dingy overalls and were carrying cleaning products. Once they were in the toilets, Ultimecia set about cleaning the sinks whilst Selphie set about whining.

"Who does Squall think he is? Can't he take a joke?" Selphie moaned. Ultimecia just let the remarks go over her head as she cleaned the sinks.

"Guess I failed my mission huh?" Ultimecia stated.

"No, you passed." Selphie said as she shoved a plunger down a toilet, "It was my fault, I accidentally left the camera information in the files, Quistis figured it out when she saw my camera was used to take one of the photos. Guess I won't be able to rely on her for help at the halloween party next week."

"Halloween party?" Ultimecia asked.

"Yeah, the garden festival committee are organising a party next week for all the students. It's going to be great. Oh hey, do you want to be on the committee?" Selphie asked suddenly. Ultimecia had already been told by Zell and a couple of people that if Selphie asked you that, there was only one answer that would get her off your back.

"You want me on your kommittee?" Ultimecia said, "Sure."

"Really?" Selphie squealed happily before jumping up and down, "Yay! I didn't think you'd say yes. I thought you'd be like Captain Whatever."

"Kaptain Whatever?"

"Oh, it's a nickname I gave to Squall, on account of him constantly saying the word 'whatever'. That was until Rinoa came up with a way to stop him using it."

"What'd she do?"

"She said that every time Squall even started to say 'whatever', Rinoa would have Angelo nibble on his boots." Selphie smiled, "Now, he either stays silent or mutters 'Not Interested'." Ultimecia and Selphie laughed as they finished off their punishment. Which didn't seem like a punishment at all to Ultimecia, since it meant she got to mess around with Selphie and slag off Squall.

_AN: And finally, after a massive hiatus, the humour side of this fic raises it's head above the pillows, hisses at the sunlight streaming through the window and throws a shoe at the alarm clock. Don't worry, the main storyline is going to continue, I've already worked out how I'm going to end this fic, but that doesn't mean we can't have a bit of fun along the way now, does it? Don't forget to leave a review._


	13. Chapter 13: Halloween Party

Rehab

Chapter 13: Halloween

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy 8, it is the property of Square-Enix.

For once in the entire time he'd been in Balamb Garden, Squall was having a day off. Admittedly not his choice, if he'd had his way he'd still be in his office. But it was kinda hard to not leave the office when Rinoa had decided to attend the Halloween party Selphie was organising and then deciding to persuade Squall into letting the students and staff have a day off so they could prepare by threatening to release embarrassing photos taken from the orphanage onto the garden intranet. Then Rinoa had decided she wanted to go shopping for a costume in Deling City, thus blackmailing Nida into changing the flight plan so that Balamb Garden would fly over to Deling City and not into the ocean towards Esthar from Centra. Then, Rinoa had decided to blackmail Squall into joining her by threatening to put embarrassing photos of him as a five year old on Timber's National TV. Selphie on the other hand wasn't using vague threats of photo publication to get her way.

"IVY, IT'S SIX O'CLOCK, GET OUTTA BED ALREADY!" Selphie screeched as she kicked her room-mates door off it's hinges, before walking up to the bed and pulling the covers off it. In the bed, Ultimecia was trying her hardest to stay asleep and dream of Selphie being turned into a five year old and dumped in the orphanage only to give Cid and Edea headaches. It wasn't working. Selphie's latest method of getting Ultimecia out of bed was to blow an airhorn into her ear and keep doing so until Ultimecia got out of the bed. The longest this had ever gone on for was a full fifteen minutes, which meant that Ultimecia had spent the day with a headache and unable to focus on anything bar the ringing noise in her ears. Ultimecia jumped up and made a half-hearted attempt at snatching the horn out of Selphie's grasp. If she'd gotten it, Ultimecia would have thrown it off the side of the quad. But Selphie was quicker and bounded out of the room, yelling something about a costume party.

Ultimecia got dressed and headed out to the central area. It was pretty quiet, considering all lectures had been cancelled. Ultimecia sat on a bench and waited. It had already been announced via email that the Garden would be landing outside Deling City and would remain for four hours, so people could go shopping. Ultimecia knew she'd have to get some kind of costume, the last thing she wanted was Selphie finding out she didn't have one and then buying her one – Selphie was apt to find a slutty outfit or something equally embarrassing for Ultimecia to wear. Not that Ultimecia had any idea what kind of costume she would choose, probably just get the cheapest one that came with a mask to hide her face. As the garden landed, Ultimecia watched as hoardes of people started swarming the exit. Waiting for it to clear so she could leave, Ultimecia noticed Rinoa walking straight to her.

"Heading into the city?" Rinoa asked, Ultimecia nodded. "Guess I'm not the only one who left it a bit late to get clothes for the party tonight." Rinoa commented. Ultimecia watched as the crowd leaving Garden thinned out a little. The two women stood up and walked to the Front Gate. "Do you want to go shopping with me and Squall?" Rinoa asked Ultimecia. Ultimecia shook her head.

"I think I'd prefer to do my shopping alone, if that's alright."

"Of course it is." Rinoa smiled, "Just have a good time." Rinoa waved as she ran for the exit. Ultimecia walked through casually. The Garden had landed just a few metres away from the city entrance, so it was a short walk to Deling City.

Walking through the crowded streets, Ultimecia headed into the first shop she saw that sold costumes. All of them were colourful to the point of hurting Ultimecia's eyes. That's when she had a great idea and headed out of the store and into an ordinary clothes shop. Rummaging through the clothes, Ultimecia quickly found a t-shirt that would fit her and some black trousers. Smirking as she went to the till, she picked up a handful of belts and a black leather coat with a white fur trim to go with the rest of the clothes. Having paid for her shopping, Ultimecia hurried back to the costume shop to buy a brown wig. Grinning as she carried her purchases out of the city and back to the Garden. Getting through the Front Gate, Ultimecia walked back to her room and closed the door. Laying out the clothes she had brought on her bed, Ultimecia popped into Selphie's room and borrowed her makeup bag. Walking back into her own room, Ultimecia sat down in front of a mirror and started to get to work.

Selphie walked into her room to find Ultimecia's door wide open and what looked like Squall Leonhart standing in the room with his back to the door.

"Squall? What the hell are you doing in here? This is a woman's dormitory!" Selphie shouted as she ran into the room. 'Squall' kept his back to her. "Hey, did you hear what I said?" Selphie shouted, spinning 'Squall' around to get an air horn in the face. "OW!" Selphie moaned, covering her ears. Looking 'Squall' in the face, it was obvious that it was a person made up to look like Squall. And judging from the grin the person had, Selphie knew who it was straight away.

"Ivy?" Selphie stuttered. Ultimecia nodded, smirking. "That's a great costume." Selphie giggled, before pushing Ultimecia out of her room, "Now why don't you wait for me to get changed, then we'll go down to the party together." Selphie suggested as she shut her door. Ultimecia sat down in the shared study area and waited.

Fifteen minutes later, Selphie's door finally opened. Ultimecia stood up and watched as Selphie walked out of the room wearing a costume that made her resemble a Bomb monster.

"How do I look?" Selphie asked.

"Good. That kostume looks nice on you." Ultimecia smiled. Selphie giggled before opening the door and walking down the hallway to the central area, Ultimecia following behind. The party was being held in the biggest space in Balamb Garden, the First Floor Basement, which had once been the room of Master Norg, but now had been converted into a general area that could be used for gatherings. The garden festival committee had spent most of the previous week hanging decorations from the ceiling. The entire room was lit in an orange glow. Selphie bounded off the lift as soon as the doors opened, leaving Ultimecia to walk out on her own and survey the room. There were a lot of students wearing various costumes, some bizarre, other's clearly hadn't made much of an effort and had just borrowed items of clothing off various people. A couple of people mistook her for their commander and thought she had come to shut the party down. Until the lift came back down with Rinoa and the real Squall Leonhart. Rinoa was wearing a white tank top and black shorts with red gloves and red boots, her hair in a ponytail. Squall had a purple outfit consisting of trousers, boots and a turtleneck and a yellow wig that made his head look like a chocobo. As soon as Rinoa noticed Ultimecia, she laughed.

"Ivy? Where did you get the idea to dress up as Squall?" Rinoa asked as Squall just stared at Ultimecia, looking at her face, where Ultimecia had used Selphie's makeup pencils to make it look like she had a scar running over her nose.

"It just kame to me in Deling Kity." Ultimecia smiled.

"It's an obvious imitation." Squall pouted. Ultimecia's smile vanished for a cold indifference.

"...whatever." Ultimecia muttered, making Rinoa burst out laughing.

"Great impersonation." Rinoa choked out between laughs.

"Not interested." Ultimecia said in the same tone as before, causing even more laughter.

The lift descended again and let Cid and Edea into the room, who had been invited to the party as well. Cid was dressed as Ifrit and Edea was dressed as Shiva. Edea ran over and embraced Ultimecia so tight that Ultimecia could barely breathe.

"Ivy! How are you doing here?" Edea asked quickly, giving Ultimecia no opportunity to answer as more questions were thrown in her direction. Behind the couple, Quistis and a few students entered the room. Quistis had shown up dressed as Adel, the former ruler of Esthar. Quistis walked off into the crowd, apparently oblivious to Rinoa shuddering as Quistis passed her. Squall put his arm around her, thinking she was cold.

The party got into full swing as soon as it started. For some reason, Seifer Almasy and Fujin had been invited, Seifer had come dressed in a white suit with a fake shotgun and Fujin had dressed in a dark suit with sunglasses covering her eyes. Ultimecia briefly wondered how Fujin was meant to be able to see anything in the room since the lights weren't very bright. A lot of people had dressed up as monsters or soldiers from the armies of Galbadia and Esthar. Ultimecia made her way over to the drinks table where some committee members were handing out drinks. One of them handed her a drink, clearly petrified and clearly mistaking Ultimecia for their commander. Squall and Rinoa had made their way over to the dance floor on the opposite side of the room with Selphie and Irvine, who had shown up dressed a T-Rexaur. Ultimecia leaned against a wall and sipped her drink, watching the couples on the dancefloor. She noticed Rinoa point at her and Squall turn around to look at her then back to Rinoa, the pair nodding to each other. Rinoa walked off somewhere and Squall walked straight towards her.

"You don't appear to have anyone to dance with." Squall stated. Ultimecia rolled her eyes. "Do you want to go on the dance floor?" Squall asked. Ultimecia was about to point out that he'd just noted that she had no-one to dance with until she noticed Squall grab her wrist and start to walk back towards the dance floor. As she was pulled onto the dance floor, she couldn't help but notice Rinoa standing off to the side giggling at Squall's method of getting someone on the dance floor. Probably because a few years ago, that was how Rinoa had got to know Squall, by dragging him onto a dance floor. Squall finally stopped and held Ultimecia's hands. The song changed to a slow waltz. Ultimecia vaguely recognised the tune, when she'd been in control of Rinoa, the younger woman had tried to block her out by concentrating on her memories of the Seed graduation party. But just because she recognised the tune and the dance moves Squall was using didn't make Ultimecia feel any better. She moved clumsily, regularly treading on Squall's feet.

In an office building miles away from the Garden, two people were working late, watching monitors showing the surveillance footage from Balamb Garden's basement. They were the only ones in the building, the room they were in was lit by the dim glow from their monitors.

"She certainly has changed." One of the people, a woman, stated, pressing a few buttons to zoom in a camera.

"Isn't that the objective?" The other person, a man, answered.

"Yes, but she's changed too much. Nobody could have predicted she'd actually make friends."

"True. The plan continues anyway."

"But, it could destroy her. You know that." The man remained silent, "Shaper, please. We could get them to review the mission."

"Our goal is to rehabilitate, everything else is not a concern."

"Dammit Shaper, there's a difference between helping and traumatising. Hasn't she suffered enough trauma for one lifetime?"

"Morley, you know full well this is all for her own good, but she has to choose." The female lowered her head. There were times when she got on with her partner, and times when trying to talk to him was like talking to a wall.

Finally breaking free of the dance floor, Ultimecia walked to the buffet where Zell, dressed in a chicken suit, was piling his plate high with hot dogs.

"Do you ever stop to konsider the damage those things do to you? Haven't you ever heard of kolesterol?" Ultimecia asked. Zell shoved a hot dog in his mouth as he considered.

"Erm, nope. These are totally healthy!" Zell shouted while he ate, making Ultimecia feel queasy.

"Seriously, klose your mouth while you khew. I don't want to see what you're eating." Zell paused before sticking his tongue out, showing the chewed up food in his mouth. Ultimecia felt like she was going to hurl. Zell then chewed it some more before spitting it into a bin, which caused Ultimecia to run at the bin and heave her guts into it. A random student started patting her on the back and shouted across the room, "Hey Selphie, this girl are sick!"

_AN: Wow, exposition and humour in the same chapter? What the hell is wrong with me? Also, thought that having Zell gross Ultimecia out would be funny. Who needs legendary weapons and high stats to stop Ultimecia when showing a complete lack of manners works just as well? Also, inserted a couple of references to Final Fantasy 7 in there; Rinoa and Squall are dressed as Tifa and Cloud, the student's line at the end is a deliberate parody of the mistranslated line in FF7 that read "This guy are sick.". Please leave a review._


	14. Chapter 14: Close Quarters Combat

Rehab

Chapter 14: Close Quarters Combat

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy, it is owned by Square-Enix.

Ultimecia woke up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. The last night was a blur in her mind, probably on account of the thirteen vodka shots Selphie had made her drink in the space of two minutes. No doubt, there'd be a lot of pictures circulating the Garden Network of Squall wasted and attempting to chat up a potted plant. Ultimecia stood up and walked out of her room into the shared study area before putting her head in Selphie's doorway. The small girl was lying face down on her bed, half her costume off and snoring quietly. Ultimecia walked out the dormitory and headed to the canteen. Garden was pretty quiet. Most of the morning classes had been suspended since both students and faculty were either nursing hangovers or were feeling ill. It seemed Selphie had forgotten how to make food properly and put something in the hotdogs which shouldn't have been there.

Walking into the canteen, Ultimecia was glad to see the canteen staff were working. She picked up a portion of salad then walked to one of the tables at the back of the room, hidden from the entrance by a couple of plants. That still didn't stop Zell Dincht from spotting her. He walked right up to her table and dumped a holdall on it.

"Come on, you're late." Zell grunted, "Get changed and meet me in the Training Area in five minutes." Zell stated before running off. Ultimecia stared at the bag and unzipped it. Peering inside, Ultimecia found a gym uniform that looked like it would fit her. Standing up, Ultimecia grabbed the handles of the bag and carried it back to her dorm room. Pulling her garden uniform off, Ultimecia put the gym uniform on and ran to the Training Centre.

Standing in front of her, with his arms folded and a sneer on his face was Zell Dincht. Ultimecia recognised the outfit he was now wearing as the same outfit he'd worn during Time Compression. She stopped suddenly and stared at him.

"What are you teakhing me?" Ultimecia asked, unsteadily.

"Squall asked I cover close quarters combat with you." Zell said, his voice devoid of emotion, "If he hadn't asked, I wouldn't be doing this. Personally, I think you should be sitting in a jail cell right next to that scumbag bastard who nearly ruined our world at your side. But, the commander seems to think you'll make a good Seed candidate." Ultimecia couldn't work out whether to be happy or sad. "Irvine trained you with a rifle, didn't he?" Zell asked. Ultimecia nodded. "Rifles are good, but you cannot rely solely upon your weapon. You need to learn how to handle yourself when weapons are unavailable." Zell raised his fists, putting himself in a fighting stance. "First, we'll cover the basics of close quarters combat, or CQC for short. Then, I'll teach you how to disarm an opponent. Look at how I've positioned my body. Copy it as best you can." Ultimecia moved carefully until she was mirroring Zell's posture exactly. "That's good." Zell said, "That is the basic fighting stance. Most moves can be executed from that stance." Zell stood up slightly and grabbed a piece of piping that was lying on the floor. Without saying a word, Zell threw the pipe at Ultimecia. Reacting on gut instinct alone, Ultimecia grabbed the pipe with her right hand. "Good, that there is one of the most effective ways of starting to disable an opponent. If they attempt to attack you, grab the part of their body they attack you with." Zell explained. Ultimecia dropped the piping. "For instance, if I were to throw a right hook at you now, you grab my right arm. That stops the attack and if you react quickly enough, allows you to counter. Understand?" Zell asked. Ultimecia nodded slowly. "Then hit me, if you can."

Zell ran at her and threw a right hook. Ultimecia dodged and countered with a right hook of her own, which Zell easily grabbed. "When you have your opponent in this position, you can pull them towards you into a chokehold or throw them." Zell explained as he threw Ultimecia down. She landed heavily on her right arm, making her cough a little and wince at the sudden pain shooting down her right side. "When you have an opponent in a chokehold, you can use them as a human shield, interrogate them or take them hostage." Zell explained as Ultimecia picked herself off the floor. Zell flew in with a kick, which caused Ultimecia to grab his foot and push it, throwing Zell off-balance. Zell recovered quickly and moved to do a roundhouse kick. Ultimecia ducked and then went to punch Zell in the abdomen. Zell grabbed her wrist and pulled it in such a way that he was holding it and had her in a headlock. "Come on, you're stronger than this." Zell stated, releasing her. Ultimecia whipped around and threw Zell to the floor before he could react. "Guess you're ready to start learning how to disarm an opponent."

While Ultimecia tried to get her breath back from the intense amount of exercise, Zell walked over to a holdall he had brought in and pulled out a pair of bb pistols and a rifle. Walking back over, Zell threw a pistol to Ultimecia.

"You'll be glad to know we're using these instead of real pistols and they're empty, so there's no risk of injury from these weapons." Zell stated. Ultimecia remained silent. "Most of the combatants you will face will be armed with a weapon such as these. If you come up against an enemy using other types of weapons, trying to use CQC to disarm is suicidal." Ultimecia just stared at Zell blankly. "The first step to disarm an enemy is to seize their gun and get it out of range of yourself and other people such as civilians. Then, while the enemy is still in shock from your actions, seize the gun. What you do with the enemy after is up to you. Now, hold your gun like you're about to shoot me and we'll go through each step."

Selphie sat in the shared area gazing at a laptop which was perched on her knees as Ultimecia wandered into the room, before collapsing onto a chair.

"Did your session with Zell go well?" Selphie asked cheerfully.

"Kill me." Ultimecia groaned, "Kill me now."

"That well, huh?" Selphie giggled, "Zell does have a tendency to verge towards being the drill sergeant from hell when he's training people. Tired?" Ultimecia didn't even dignify that with an answer. The hyperactive girl continued to talk. "Quistis dropped by with a pile of books for you to read, she left them in your room." Ultimecia sighed, and pushed herself off the chair. Walking towards her room, she nearly tripped over the pile of books. Looking at the spines, they all had titles like 'Sorceresses Through The Ages', 'The Sorceress' Knight' and other titles which seemed boring to her. On top of the pile was a handwritten note. Ultimecia picked it up and read it.

"Read these and make notes for your klass tomorrow with me. Signed, Quistis." Ultimecia read, before collapsing on her bed. She was asleep within seconds.

_AN: Really sorry for the delay. It's been what, nearly a month since the last update? A combination of personal life, busy with other fics & being very nervous about writing the upcoming ending (which is multi-chapter and due to start in three chapters time) since it's going to potentially be either the highlight of the fiction or the worst part of it. Plus, I really didn't like how this chapter came out as being more like an ingame tutorial level with so much explanation from Zell, but it's pretty unavoidable. And it's yet another Metal Gear reference. I really need to start balancing out these references. It's too much Metal Gear and not enough Batman. Again, sorry for the delay. I'm going to work really hard to get this fiction done before Christmas this year._


	15. Chapter 15: First Test

Rehab

Chapter 15: First Test

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy VIII, it is owned by Square-Enix.

The beeping of Ultimecia's computer woke her up, making a change to the unwanted alarm clock that was her room-mate. Lifting her head off the desk and the pile of books on it, Ultimecia stared at the monitor until her vision cleared and she could actually see the screen properly. Her inbox was flashing, which meant new mail. Clicking on it, Ultimecia found five mail messages. Starting with the earliest, Ultimecia read a note that Rinoa had sent asking her to pop into her office sometime. The next mail was from Selphie and consisted of a link and the text, "What'da ya think? Great, huh?". Ultimecia opened the link in another tab and went to the next mail, from Irvine. It was a list of supplies he thought might come in handy for maintaining her weapons. Ultimecia scrolled through the list before opening the next mail, from Squall, reminding her that the field exam was in two weeks and that Quistis would be administering the written exam in the coming days. The last email was from Quistis telling her to go to the second floor classroom at ten o'clock for tutorial. Ultimecia glanced at the clock on her computer. It was nine fifteen then. Deciding to skip breakfast, Ultimecia grabbed some clean clothes and threw them on, before going to the bathroom and getting her toothbrush. Walking back to her computer whilst brushing her teeth, Ultimecia read through the article that Selphie had sent her. It was a news report on the TV Studio in Timber, and how it was being refitted with digital broadcast equipment, so regions without cable could enjoy high definition television. As an aside, the article noted that the Galbadian troops were being slowly withdrawn from the area by the President. Ultimecia dimly remembered killing the previous President on a rooftop during a parade. The new President was President Caraway. Shutting her computer off, Ultimecia grabbed her ID card and ran out of the dorms, heading for the lift.

Running into the classroom, Ultimecia noticed that Quistis was already there, sat behind her desk and watching a clock. Ultimecia paused to get her breath back and then sat down at her old at the back of the room before Quistis told her to move to the front row. Sitting down, Ultimecia noticed that the terminal had a new option – Seed Written Test.

"Did you look through the books I asked you to look at?" Quistis asked calmly. Ultimecia nodded. "Any questions?" Ultimecia shook her head. Quistis sighed, "You can talk you know. I'm not going to beat you for every wrong move you make." Obviously news of her training session with Zell had spread around.

"When's the exam?" Ultimecia asked.

"Written exam today, field exam in two weeks if you pass the written exam." Quistis asnwered.

"Is the exam diffikult?"

"Depends. How much of the material you studied can you remember?"

"Everything."

"Then the exam should pose no problems. We begin in five minutes." Quistis stated.

Ultimecia stared at the screen in front of her. Quistis had just posted the exam on the study panel. Ultimecia read over the instructions. The test was going to be twenty multiple choice questions. Clicking the screen to load the first question, Ultimecia carefully read the question. It didn't matter if she read out loud because, thanks to the Commander's paranoia, Ultimecia was sitting the exam in a room on her own with Quistis acting as an invigilator. Which meant that Ultimeica could make as much noise as she wanted as long as the exam was finished.

"Question 1: Whikh of these is a valid type of magik? White, Black, Blue or Yellow?" Ultimecia read out, raising an eyebrow. Surely that was a joke question. Clicking the correct answer, Ultimecia moved onto the next question. "Question 2: How are limit breaks activated? Kasting Aura, getting emotional, randomly regardless of physical state or being lukky?"

As Ultimecia continued to read out her questions, Quistis had to put more effort into not bursting out laughing. It was obvious that someone, probably Rinoa had tampered with the exam to make it so easy Ultimecia could do it in her sleep. It hadn't gone amiss that, among those who knew that Ivy Wolf was just a cover, people were split into three camps. The "let's give Ultimecia a second chance" camp, the "I don't give a monkey's who Ivy Wolf is as long as she isn't hurting anyone" camp and the "let's cause as much misery as we can get away with." camp. Considering the previous days torture that had barely been disguised as a CQC lesson, Zell was in the latter camp. And since Squall had done all he could to make life difficult from the start, he was in as well. Selphie and Rinoa were in the first group with Quistis and Irvine stuck on the fence. Ten minutes later, Ultimecia had finished her exam. Quistis could see on her own computer that Ultimecia had aced the exam, but she wouldn't be told until tomorrow, unless Rinoa or anyone else leaked it. And considering that Rinoa was the only one to have blackmail material on the person who would kick the ass of anyone leaking classified information, that meant that Ultimecia would probably be told in her therapy session. Quistis sighed before telling Ultimecia she was free to go. Watching the woman walk out of the room, Quistis had sudden doubts about whether it was fair on her that she would essentially be thrown into combat head first.

Ultimecia walked out of the classroom and headed for the lift. Taking it to the first floor, she breathed a sigh of relief. As the lift doors opened, Ultimecia headed for the infirmary. Walking into Rinoa's office, Ultimecia smiled at the therapist, who had already read Ultimecia's test score.

"You passed with flying colours!" Rinoa smiled, motioning for Ultimecia to sit down, "With that result, there's no way Squall can stop you from taking the field exam if you want to."

"Will that be hard, the field exam?" Ultimecia asked.

"Probably not," Rinoa answered, "A couple of years ago it would have been, but the world is in a state of peace now." Rinoa pushed a newspaper across her desk, "Here, it's today's Timber Maniacs." Ultimecia picked up the paper and started to read. The main headline was 'Timber TV Station Upgrade Completed.' Ultimecia vaguely remembered being in the TV station once. Shaking her head to get rid of the unpleasant memory, Ultimecia started to read through the article.

"Impressive, isn't it." Rinoa stated, "Just six months ago, Timber achieved independence. And now the TV Station is back up."

"Wonderful." Ultimecia stated.

"Something on your mind?" Rinoa asked. Ultimecia shook her head. "You know it's not good to bottle negative emotions up. Doing that just hurts you. So if something is wrong, it's best to talk."

"Nothing's wrong." Ultimecia stated, before walking out of the office.

On her way back to the dorm room, Ultimecia noticed the door was open and people were shouting.

"I know there's contraband in here and I will find it." A female voice shouted. Ultimecia felt her stomach churn. Were people searching through her stuff.

"I keep telling you there's nothing here!" Selphie shouted. Walking into the room, Ultimecia prepared herself to get verbal abuse. What she got was the sight of Xu standing in Selphie's room, with Selphie's matress on the floor. And under Selphie's bed, shown by the lack of matress over the top were six industrial sized bags filled with sugar. Ultimecia smiled. She'd been expecting her room to be in a state, not discovering the source of Selphie's constant happiness. Ultimecia jumped onto her bed and smirked as she heard Xu start dragging the bags out of the room, to the indignant protests of the smaller Seed.

_AN: Sorry for the massive gap in updates, partly me getting a few new games and spending more time than is good for me on them, partly the fact that I keep having thoughts about how big I want to make the story (to the point where if I wrote what I thought, the story would probably be the same size as FF8.) But, I want to end this story in a few chapters time, so if I did suddenly feel like increasing the story, I would write a sequel to this one, and keep doing that until I had four stories which on their own served as a complete story but taken together serve as a well-rounded whole. Problem being how prone I am to writing Ultimecia being OOC. Still, next update should be before Christmas (finger's crossed – I've got a tonne of work to do as well and some of it is going to be very time consuming.)_


	16. Chapter 16: Christmas

Rehab

Chapter 16: Christmas

DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy 8 is owned by Square-Enix, not me.

Ultimecia woke up after a long lie-in, caused by the absence of anything she needed to get up early for and the fact that her room mate had not had access to sugar, her secret stash having been confiscated the previous day. Which meant that for the first time in years, Selphie Tilmitt was not on a sugar high. Walking to the canteen to get coffee, Ultimecia noticed that Rinoa and Quistis were already in the canteen. After getting her cup of coffee, Ultimecia walked over to the pair.

"Morning." Ultimecia said to the pair of them, who ignored her. Instead, they were more keen on watching Selphie shuffle in and walk up to the counter.

"What're ya having?" The canteen server asked Selphie.

"Hot chocolate with extra sugar." Selphie said. Quistis frowned.

"Coming right – hang on, let me see your ID card." The server ordered. Selphie showed her an ID card.

"Right, sorry but management have ordered that you're not to be served anything with caffeine or sugar in it." The server stated authoritively.

"What? No fair!" Selphie moaned, before storming off.

"Morning, Ivy. Sleep well?" Rinoa asked.

"Very. What was that about?" Ultimecia asked.

"Well, I kinda used Squall's ID to restrict Selphie's diet. I put a block on her getting served sugar and caffiene." Rinoa explained.

"Won't Squall be mad about you impersonating him?" Ultimecia asked, remembering how angry Squall had been at Irvine for messing with Selphie's weapon permit so she could check his gun out for him.

"Actually, Squall would probably go one step further and put Selphie in the infirmary and let Kadowaki give her meals through a tube." Quistis joked.

"So what's stopping Selphie from getting koffee and sugar off-site?" Ultimecia asked.

"Well, for various reasons, Selphie is banned from most restaurants and diners." Rinoa answered, "In fact, the only places Selphie can actually get served food are in Deling City and Esthar."

"And since Squall is so close to President Loire, we've been able to lean on him to prevent Selphie getting served sugar and caffeine there."

"And Deling Kity?" Ultimecia asked.

"Well, we know the owner of the bar where Selphie can still get served." Rinoa answered.

"So you leant on him?" Ultimecia finished off.

"Nope, we suggested it would be in his best interests to prevent Selphie getting sugar." Quistis answered.

An hour train ride later, Selphie got off in the Deling City train station. Running to the only bar in the city she could still be served in, Selphie found it was open. And sitting at one of the tables having their breakfast were Fujin, Rajin and Seifer.

"I need coffee!" Selphie shouted, loud enough to make Fujin wince.

"Messenger girl." Seifer snarled, "We're not open, and you are not getting coffee here."

"Coffee, now!" Selphie shouted, banging her fist on a counter.

"Can't you just go and get sugar from your secret stash, ya know?" Rajin asked.

"Quistis took it." Selphie answered.

"So get some from your secret, secret stash." Fujin suggested.

"Ran out." Selphie answered.

"Look, if we give you sugar and Quistis finds out, we're going to get thrown onto the streets." Seifer explained, "So, we can't help you. You'll just have to go cold turkey."

"What?" Selphie shrieked.

"Or check in a rehab clinic, ya know." Rajin added.

"I. NEED. SUGAR!" Selphie shouted.

"So go and buy some!" Seifer shouted.

"Can't, Quistis took my cards off me." Selphie explained.

"So, you need to get sugar from a place that'll give you credit." Seifer summed up, "Too bad we have to pay bills and need to have paying customers, not freeloaders."

"What if I worked off the debt?" Selphie suggested, "Garden's on break anyway 'cause of the holidays." Seifer paused to consider that. If Quistis found out, she'd probably get the Galbadian government to crush their little bar. But they needed money and here was a way to make some.

"Okay, but you have to work off interest at the same time." Seifer said, "I give you one of the industrial sized bags of sugar we have in the back, you work in the bar tonight until we close in the morning. Deal?" Seifer held out his hand. Without even thinking it through, Selphie shook it.

"Deal!" Selphie squealed, "Now where's my sugar?"

"Rajin, give her a bag." Seifer commanded. Rajin lead Selphie to the back area as Seifer pulled out his mobile and dialled a number.

"It's me. She's here."

"I thought of a way to make both our problems go away."

"I've given her a bag." Seifer moved the phone away from his ear as someone shouted down it.

"Relax, I've got an agreement with her. She gets a bag and works it off in the bar. And after tonight, I guarantee that she won't want to even look at a bag of sugar again."

"Well, if she does I'll be puberty boy's P.A. for a week." Seifer stated.

"Okay. Bye." Seifer shut the phone. "We have Garden's backing. We can deal with Selphie ourselves." Fujin sighed, this was going to get interesting.

After Selphie had her morning cup filled with sugar and a hint of hot chocolate, Seifer sat her down to explain what she'd be doing to clear her debt.

"We're having a christmas night in the bar tonight." Seifer started.

"Party?" Selphie asked happily. Seifer nodded, causing Selphie to shriek so loudly in delight that Fujin had to cover her ears.

"And you're going to be doing some last-minute advertising for it." Seifer explained, "So, you'll basically be walking around Deling City saying how good this bar is and how fun tonight is."

"That's all?" Selphie asked. This sounded like it was going to be a piece of cake.

"Only, you will have to change into something more, appropriate for the occasion." Seifer stated.

"ROOM UPSTAIRS. CHANGE." Fujin shouted. Selphie walked off as Seifer's phone began to ring.

"Almasy."

"Yeah, we're having a party and Selphie is working for me for today and tonight."

"If you have to. Just don't let the Grouch wreck the party."

"Does she have to come? Really."

"Come on, you know full well why I might object to her setting foot in this bar, let alone the city."

"Fine, but only if you stay with her the entire night."

"Okay, fine." Seifer hung up. "We've got more business for tonight." Seifer explained to Fujin.

"There's no way I'm wearing this!" Selphie shouted.

"A deal's a deal, messenger girl." Seifer shouted back through a closed door.

"CHANGED?" Fujin asked.

"Yeah, but I'm not walking the streets dressed like this." Selphie answered. Fujin opened the door to show Seifer and Rajin what Selphie was wearing. Fujin was slightly relieved. If Seifer hadn't managed to get someone else to do what Selphie was doing, it would have been Fujin. Selphie was standing in the middle of the room, wearing a christmas tree costume and pouting.

"Looking good, ya know." Rajin stated.

"I can't go out dressed like this." Selphie complained.

"How are you supposed to advertise a costume party without wearing a costume yourself?" Seifer asked.

"Surely there's another way." Selphie whined as Fujin grabbed her arm and started pulling her down the stairs.

"NONE." Fujin stated.

"But I don't have to go out alone, do I?" Selphie pleaded.

"Fine, Fujin goes with you, but you still have to do your job." Seifer relented.

Fujin and Selphie walked into one of the main shopping areas in Deling City, Selphie's pace slowed down considerably because of her costume. Finding a good place to stand, the two girls waited until someone came over. Which, considering all that could be seen of Selphie because of her costume was her face, with even her hair hidden in the costume meant that most people wouldn't recognise her if she kept her mouth shut. Unfortunately, her deal with Seifer meant she would have to talk. Which would probably be a lot better for business than Fujin's effort.

"PARTY. GO TO. FUN." Fujin shouted.

"That's not going to get people interested – that's going to scare them away." Selphie whispered.

"DO BETTER THEN." Fujin stated. Selphie looked around before spotting a few teenagers.

"Watch this." Selphie said, before walking up to the teens. "Hey, you guys look like you enjoy parties. There's this great party over at this bar." Selphie started, before realising she didn't know the name of Seifer's bar, she'd always referred to it as Seifer's Bar.

"Knight's Tears." Fujin hissed under her breath.

"Anyway, it's a costume party. Starts this evening." Selphie finished off, smiling. The teens all took flyers from Fujin before walking off.

"Knight's Tears?" Selphie asked.

"KNIGHT. WHAT SEIFER WAS. TEARS. TEARS POINT. WHERE SEIFER RETURNED." Fujin explained.

"Sure there's not another reason for that name?" Selphie asked, "I'm sure Rinoa could figure out another."

"COINCIDENCE." Fujin stated. "WORK."

After Selphie and Fujin had gone all the way around Deling City three times, they headed back to the bar.

"My feet are killing me!" Selphie moaned as she walked through the door. She made a beeline for the stairs and walked into the room she'd got changed in. "Where are my clothes?" Selphie shouted.

"You're working the bar tonight, outfit's in the wardrobe." Seifer shouted up the stairs. Selphie opened the wardrobe before shouting back down.

"You can't be serious."

"It's either that or what you're wearing now. Your choice." Seifer shouted back. Selphie sighed before starting to change outfits.

Rinoa walked down the halls to Ultimecia's room. Ultimecia was sat at her computer, reading some files.

"Hey, some of us are going to a party later, wanna come?" Rinoa asked.

"Where?" Ultimecia replied.

"Deling City." Rinoa answered. Ultimecia paused to consider.

"Okay." Ultimecia answered.

"Are you feeling okay?" Rinoa asked, walking further into the room.

"I'm fine." Ultimecia snapped. Rinoa noticed she was wearing a bandage on her right leg, barely hidden by Ultimecia's black boots.

"What happened?" Rinoa asked. Ultimecia kept quiet. "Was that caused by Zell in training?" More silence. "If you don't tell me, I can't help you."

"Don't need help." Ultimecia stated.

"Alright, you say you don't need help but your body language and your mannerisms are screaming for it." Rinoa said, shutting the door. "If you think keeping quiet and saying only a few words are going to work on me, you should keep something in mind." Ultimecia stayed quiet, but cocked her head to one side, signalling for Rinoa to continue. "I'm Squall's wife. I've been dealing with silent brooding for two years. And you have nothing on the Commander for being emo, so either you can talk, or I'll start getting the truth out of you another way." Rinoa added, smirking.

"Torture?" Ultimecia sighed.

"I know a song that'll get on your nerves..." Rinoa began, giggling. Ultimecia stayed silent, staring at her computer, so Rinoa decided to change tactic. She sat down on Ultimecia's desk. And from her new view, she could see that it wasn't just Ultimecia's right leg that was bandaged. Ultimecia had bandages on around her torso too, which Rinoa could see had been hidden by her uniform blaser. Knowing that any enquiry into Ultimecia's health would be ignored, Rinoa decided to try a different tactic.

"What-cha doing?" Rinoa asked, peeking at Ultimecia's computer monitor. Before Ultimecia could minimise the window, Rinoa read the titles of the tabs she had open. "How badly are you hurt?" Rinoa asked, deciding to stop dancing around the issue.  
"Walked into door." Ultimecia shrugged. "Klumsy." Rinoa could tell she was lying.

"Or straight into a fist. If someone has assaulted you, keeping quiet isn't going to make the problem go away." Rinoa stated, her tone a little harsher than she had meant it to be.

"Not assault." Ultimecia stated.

"So what was it? A little tap?" Rinoa snarked.

"Venting." Ultimecia muttered. Rinoa realised who had done it, when and why just from that statement.

"Well, first off, that invitation to the party is out the window." Rinoa said, "You're going whether you like it or not. Second, I'll deal with the person who did this to you." Rinoa walked off, leaving a flyer on Ultimecia's desk as Ultimecia went to get changed for the party.

A couple of hours later, Rinoa got off the train with Ultimecia and Quistis in tow. The men had already gone ahead to the party since they'd spent the day buying costumes in the city. Rinoa had dug out a female Santa suit she had in the back of her cupboard, Quistis had dressed as an elf and Ultimecia, for reasons known only to her, had dressed up as a female Squall Leonhart.

"Well, shall we go straight to the bar or go sightseeing first?" Rinoa asked.

"Whatever." Ultimecia muttered, before noticing Rinoa glaring at her.

"I have just managed to get someone else to stop abusing that word and it's taken me years. Don't you start now." Rinoa growled as Quistis tried and failed to suppress laughter.

"Maybe Ivy's just mimicking Squall." Quistis choked out between giggles. When Ultimecia gave her a look that was a perfect mirror of Squall's 'perplexed' face, even Rinoa started laughing. The three headed into the bar as Seifer walked out from the back.

"Puberty boy, what're you doing with your hair so long?" Seifer asked, "Don't you know this is a costume party?"

"I'm in kostume." Ultimecia answered. Seifer's eyes widened.

"Ul-, I'm sorry, Ivy. Didn't recognise you." Seifer said, almost slipping up and saying Ultimecia's name in public.

"Go and get glasses then." Ultimecia joked. Even Fujin had a smile on her face at that point. Seifer was dressed as a soldier with Fujin wearing a long blue dress.

"How's Selphie?" Quistis asked.

"Funny you should mention that." Seifer said, "She's been trying to give me the sugar she traded back. Said she didn't want it anymore." Rinoa and Quistis gasped.

"What did you do to make her say that." Rinoa asked.

"I didn't do anything." Seifer said, holding his hands up.

"SELPHIE, CUSTOMERS!" Fujin called out.

"Selphie is working as a barmaid tonight." Seifer explained as Selphie walked out, wearing a christmas pudding outfit. The sight of her made Rinoa and Quistis laugh.

"Ha, ha, ha." Selphie said, annoyed, "Why don't you take a picture? It lasts longer!" Selphie instantly regretted her sarcasm when Rinoa, Ultimecia and Quistis pulled out camera phones and took pictures. As Selphie walked off to serve some other customers, Quistis decided to try and make the most of it.

"Do you mind if we have that costume to take back to garden?" Quistis asked.

"Of course you can. If you're planning to do what I think you are." Seifer stated, smirking. Quistis' only reply was a nod.

The morning after, Selphie walked into the canteen, unaware that Rinoa, Quistis and Zell were watching her. Walking up to the counter, she ordered a hot chocolate with extra sugar.

"ID card, please." The canteen staff member asked. Selphie produced her card. The canteen staff member pressed a few buttons on the till. Smiling, she turned back to Selphie. "I'm sorry, I can't see clearly whether you match your ID photo from the database." The staff member stated, swivelling the panel around so Selphie could see it. Where her ID photo should have been on the screen was a picture of her in the christmas pudding outfit. Selphie's mouth fell as she realised that meant that anytime she tried to use her ID card, that picture would be flashed up.

"Can I have my order now?" Selphie asked.

"Yeah." The staff member answered, turning the panel back, "It's just that management have been told you have to do something if you order sugar or caffeine."

"What?" Selphie asked as the staff member reached under the counter and pulled out the pudding costume.

"Wear this." The staff member stated.

"Err, actually, on second thoughts, gimme a salad." Selphie stated.

Squall walked in as Zell hit his head on the table. Reaching into his pocket, Zell pulled out some money and handed it to Rinoa.

"Can't believe she didn't get a sugary drink." Zell sighed as Squall sat down.

"What's going on?" Squall asked.

"Zell had a bet with Rinoa that Selphie would buy something with sugar or caffeine in it." Quistis explained, "She got a salad instead." Zell instantly started screaming in pain.

"Oh, sorry about that." Rinoa said, "I'm just so klumsy today." Rinoa stood up and walked out with Quistis, the pair of them smiling as soon as they were out of sight of both Squall and Zell. When they were in the central area of the Garden, they burst out laughing.  
"That imitation of her accent was perfect." Quistis said.

"Akkent? What akkent?" Rinoa asked, causing the two to laugh even more.

"What did you do though?" Quistis asked.

"Just trod on his toes." Rinoa answered, "Did I tell you I borrowed Squall's boots today. They have steel toecaps and steel on the bottom of them. Who'd have known?"

_AN: Guess Zell won't be doing any more CQC lessons with Ultie and Selphie won't be on any more sugar highs. Merry Christmas everyone._


	17. Chapter 17: Rinoa's Art Of War

Rehab

Chapter 17: Rinoa's Art Of War

DISCLAIMER: The author does not own Final Fantasy 8, it is the property of Square-Enix.

Rinoa sat in her office, waiting for Ultimecia to show up for her lesson on basic psychology. Given that the lesson was meant to have started at nine and it was then nine thirty, Rinoa got up and headed for the most likely place her absent student would be. Her dorm room. Using a copy of Xu's id card that no-one else knew she had, Rinoa got the door open and walked into shared part of the room. It was a mess, which was to be expected when Selphie Tilmitt often used that room as well. Quistis had often complained that whenever Selphie used the second floor classroom for her lectures the front desk ended up being a sea of scattered papers, discarded pens and a tonne of empty food wrappers. Moving across to Ultimecia's space, Rinoa noticed that it shared a lot in common with another member of Balamb Garden. Squall Leonhart. The desk was imaculate, her rifle case was leaning on the side of it. Rinoa noticed that it had even been customised with a picture of a wolf holding a piece of ivy in its mouth. And on the bed, Ultimecia just lay on her back, her face turned to the wall. She hadn't even put the covers around her and was still dressed. Which were both habits she'd been trying to break Squall out of. Rinoa shook Ultimecia's shoulder in an effort to wake her up. All it got was some murmuring coming from the older woman. Rinoa shook a bit harder.

"I don't wanna get up yet, Matron." Ultimecia muttered, rolling over in bed. Rinoa stood up and backed away slightly. It could mean nothing, but at the same time, she only knew five people in Balamb Garden who referred to anyone as 'Matron'. Before Rinoa could try again, Selphie rolled off her bed and swore as she woke up to her head smacking the floor. The noise of Selphie hitting the floor woke Ultimecia, who turned around to see Rinoa and screamed loudly. Which made Selphie run in waving a hockey stick around. As soon as the small girl realised that Ultimecia wasn't being attacked, she started laughing at the irony of it.

"What the hell? Why are you all in my room?" Ultimecia asked. At that point Rinoa joined in the laughter and started clutching her sides. "And what is so amusing?"

"You. Screaming at Rinoa!" Selphie choked out. She had tears streaming out of her eyes.

"Glad to see I'm sukh a komedian. Maybe I should start moonlighting at Seifer's bar." Ultimecia joked, which caused both women to stop laughing, immediately. "What?"

"Ivy Wolf, making a joke?" Rinoa started.

"Who are you and what did you do with Ivy?" Selphie finished off.

"What? Aren't I allowed to make jokes." Ultimecia asked.

After Ultimecia had got changed, she walked into Rinoa's office. Rinoa was watching TV and swearing like a sailor. Looking at the TV, Ultimecia noticed Rinoa was watching some news report about Timber.

"What's happened?" Ultimecia asked.

"Some scumbags have taken over the TV Station." Rinoa said, swearing loudly, "They've got the staff at gunpoint and are threatening to blow the whole tower unless Timber is returned to Galbadian control." Ultimecia stayed silent while behind her, Zell came running in.

"Squall's called an emergency meeting, all SeeDs and SeeD candidates eligible for the next field exam are to assemble in the second floor classroom in five minutes." Zell said, before sprinting off. Rinoa grabbed Ultimecia's hand and sprinted off to the lift, forcing Ultimecia to run as well.

As the two women ran into the second floor classroom Xu was waiting just inside the door. She looked at her clipboard while Ultimecia gazed around the room.

"Rinoa, you need to be with Quistis at the front of the room. You're going to need to help with the briefing." Xu announced before turning her attention to Ultimecia. "You're Ivy Wolf, right?" Ultimecia nodded, "You're to go to your study panel and wait for further instructions." Xu stated. Rinoa walked off to join Quistis while Ivy walked to her study panel at the back of the room. By the looks of it, the SeeD candidates were all at the study panels whilst the SeeDs were standing around the edge of the room. A few minutes later, Squall walked in and walked straight to the front desk. As soon as he walked through the door, everyone sat down stood up to show their respect.

"Be seated." Squall said as he stood in front of the computer, "All candidates are to log into their study panels and access the link 'Briefing File'." Squall commanded. Ultimecia typed in her username, 'WolfI' and her password, which she'd changed to 'commtwr'. As soon as the desktop loaded, she clicked on the link. "As some of you are aware, a few hours ago the Timber TV Station was seized by terrorists." Squall began, "Their demands are that Timber surrenders to Galbadian control within 72 hours. That gives us about the same amount of time to mount a rescue attempt." Squall pulled up a schematic of the building and put it on the projector. "Most of the station's staff were captured as well and are being held in the main studio. The terrorists have made clear their intention to blow up the tower if their demands are not met, something which must be avoided at all costs. If the tower is blown up, it will damage surrounding buildings and potentially injure civilians. Instructor Trepe is going to lay out how the SeeD candidates are to be involved." Squall said, before walking off to the side to allow Quistis up to the front.

"This is not going to be like any mission we've done before." Quistis started, "SeeD hasn't been hired by anyone. We're doing this off our own backs. And due to the nature of the threat we cannot just send all of you into the tower to give these scumbags a good kicking." Quistis looked pointedly at Zell before continuing. "Most of the SeeD candidates will be taking defensive positions in the surrounding buildings around the tower, to cut off any possible escape attempts by the terrorists. SeeD members are to split into three teams. One team will be backing up the candidates covering the surrounding area. Another team will be with candidates guarding the sewers. The last will join with suitably qualified candidates to infiltrate the building. I cannot stress that enough. Only one team will be infiltrating the tower itself and they will have to be in constant contact with us via radio." Quistis paused to look around the room. A lot of nervous faces looked back at her. Ultimecia's wasn't one of them, she was just staring at the projector, showing no emotion whatsoever. Her gaze reminded Quistis of Squall when he had been her student. Attentive, but emotionless. "On each study panel is a letter. Those whose study panel has the letter A are to remain here. Those whose panel has a B are to follow Zell down to the canteen where they will be briefed on the layout of the sewers. Those whose panel has a C are to go with Irvine down to the Training Centre to be briefed on the positions they are to take surrounding the Timber TV station."

Ultimecia glanced at her panel. It showed a big A on the desktop which was flashing. Ultimecia watched as people started to file out of the room, leaving only Selphie, Quistis, Squall, Rinoa, Ultimecia and a few others inside. After the last of the people leaving had gone, Quistis shut the door and locked it. "Everyone in this room is going to be playing some part on the infiltration team." Quistis announced, "Unfortunately, neither myself or Commander Leonhart can go on the field. So we're going to be forming the mission support team. Squall will be in complete control of the operation via the radio." Ultimecia noticed a few people in front of her exchange nervous glances. "Everyone else in this room will be infiltrating. You will each be assigned objectives which need to be completed."

"But, this isn't like any other field exams that have ever been done!" One student protested.

"True, but bigger risk equals bigger payoff." Rinoa stated, "We've decided that anyone who passes this field exam gets automatic Level 8 SeeD ranking." A few people gasped. Highest SeeD rank was Level A. Most field exams had an average of Level 4. "And to balance it out further, just completing the mission gets you three quarters of the marks. Which means you cannot fail."

"But don't imagine this'll be a walk in the park." Quistis added, "You're going up against hardened terrorists. They will shoot first and ask questions later. And you cannot allow any hostages to be harmed."

"That should be your priority by the way, ensuring the survival of hostages." Rinoa interrupted.

"So be careful and avoid confrontation as much as you can. Dismissed." Quistis said, walking out of the room. Some of the students started to follow her. Ultimecia stood up as Rinoa walked over to her.

"Ivy, can we have a word with you?" Rinoa asked, motioning with her eyes in Squall's direction. Without a word, Ultimecia sat back down.

After the rest of the students filed out of the room, Rinoa sat down next to Ultimecia while Squall leant against the wall behind them.

"Ivy," Rinoa started, using Ultimecia's alias even though they were alone. It was an open secret that some students would smuggle unauthorised recording devices into the classroom to record lectures and Rinoa couldn't be sure that they weren't being recorded. "I know you haven't completed your training yet, but it's unavoidable that you're being sent to the exam. Opportunities for SeeD exams don't come up very often anymore."

"In short, we're fast tracking you." Squall added in his usual monotone.

"But, what about the other parts of my training?" Ultimecia asked.

"We're going to shorten them down and focus them around the exam." Rinoa answered, "And we're going to do it now with the pair of us combined." Rinoa leant over and typed something into Ultimecia's study panel. A 2d map of the Timber TV Station came onto the screen. "This is a copy of the map you'll be using during the exam." Rinoa stated.

"The actual map is on a wrist mounted computer you'll be wearing." Squall said, "But don't spend all day looking at it, you need to memorise it. You won't have time to look at it when you're being attacked."

"And when you are attacked, you need to deal with the enemy as quickly and silently as possible." Rinoa added.

"Otherwise, they might try to swarm you." Squall warned, "You'll be equipped with whatever weapons you wish to use, but I suggest you go for weapons that are suited to stealth, such as a silenced handgun."

"But, you should try to avoid using weapons at all. Even a silenced gun can alert nearby enemies." Rinoa added. Ultimecia felt like she was a ping pong ball, being batted between the two. It was hard to keep up.

"Can I be excused? I'd like to read up on the mission." Ultimecia asked. The two looked at her.

"Okay, but if you need more help, just ask." Squall answered. Ultimecia stood up and started to walk back to her room.

A couple of hours later, Ultimecia was still sat at her computer, reading up on her current mission. Next to her desk, her sniper rifle was safely inside its case, having been checked, cleaned and reloaded. On her desk next to her laptop was a handgun which she'd checked out and a manual on gun maintenance. Ultimecia looked up as a new email showed up in her inbox from Quistis, titled "New information". Looking at it, Ultimecia noticed it contained an audio attachment. Reading through the body of the email, Ultimecia found that the audio was a message sent from one of the hostages who'd escaped from captivity but was still trapped in the building. Ultimecia clicked on the attachment to hear the message.

"_My name is Henry Shaper. I'm one of the network administrators for the TV Station. Most of the staff have been taken hostage and are being held in the main studio. If anyone gets this, please forward it to Balamb Garden for the attention of the garden administration. The terrorists are seeking the sorceress."_ The message ended abruptly. Ultimecia gripped her desk with her hands. In the mirror set into the wall, Ultimecia could see that all the blood had drained from her face and she was shaking slightly. It wasn't surprising. Ultimecia didn't know who the man was, but she had heard his voice before, on the other end of a phone in the infirmary. Telling her that if she could find him and she was ready, he could get her home. Ultimecia just stared at her reflection in the mirror.

"Home". She said simply, closing her eyes.

_AN: First off, really sorry about the massive delay. All my fics recently had delays due to exams and coursework. And then I looked over what I had for this chapter and canned half of it. Mainly because part of it was supposed to be a reference to Metal Gear Solid but it turned into a rip-off, with Squall pretty much reciting verbatim everything Colonel Campbell says when Snake gets to the Heliport and Rinoa quoting Mei Ling word for word. The 2d map Squall mentions was originally meant to be the Soliton Radar from Metal Gear as well. And as if that wasn't bad enough, what do I end the chapter on? A cliffhanger! Hopefully you'll all forgive me. There's only two or three chapters left to be written of this fic before it's over. Which should hopefully not take three months to do._


End file.
